Three Caribbean Artists

are the main characters in the book Three Caribbean Artists. A rare glimpse is offered into the lives of José-Maria Capricorne, Nelson Carrilho and Philippe Zanolino, their upbringing, work and how they José-Maria Capricorne

became established and wellknown.

Their story relates to the island of Curaçao, where folklore, magic and reality happily co-exist. It also reflects the impact of slavery, racism and immigration, common to the history of the Caribbean.

Nelson Carillho

Two international art historians, Susan Wilczak from the United States and Marianne de Tolentino from Santo Domingo, tell the story of the lives of each of these three artists. In addition, an overview is provided of art developments in the Caribbean, an area that has proven challenging to capture and Philippe Zanolino

denominate art-wise.

THREE CARIBBEAN ARTISTS

contradictions. As are the lives of the three men who

JOSÉ MARIA CAPRICORNE • NELSON CARRILHO • PHILIPPE ZANOLINO

Caribbean art is strong, passionate and filled with

Three Caribbean Artists

José Maria Capricorne

Nelson Carrilho

Philippe Zanolino

Marianne de Tolentino Susan Wilczak Monique van Herksen

ISBN 978-94-6022-491-1

9 789460 224911

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Three Caribbean Artists

JosĂŠ Maria Capricorne

Nelson Carrilho

Philippe Zanolino

Marianne de Tolentino Susan Wilczak Monique van Herksen

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Dedicated to Irene van Herksen 1939 – 2003

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Contents

Why a Book about these Three Artists?

Monique van Herksen

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Introduction to Caribbean Art and to the Dutch Antilles Marianne de Tolentino Living in a World of Magical Reality The Art and vision of JosĂŠ Maria Capricorne Marianne de Tolentino

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Crossing Cultures with Light and Shadow The Art and vision of Nelson Carrilho Susan Wilczak Experiencing Truth and Healing The Art and vision of Philippe Zanolino Susan Wilczak

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Three Caribbean Artists

LM Publishers Parallelweg 37 1131 DM Volendam The Netherlands info@lmpublishers.nl www.lmpublishers.nl

© 2019 – LM Publishers, Volendam

Editing Georgia Walker Graphic design Ad van Helmond Production Hightrade bv

Photography Sjoerd Geuke and Falco Hassink (Chapter Capricorne), Joke Capricorne (page 52), Johan van ‘t Leven (pages 62, 74, 76 and 88), Rogier Fokke (Chapter Carrilho), Philippe Zanolino (Chapter Zanolino), Arjen Stada (p. 190), Reinout Mulder (p. 258 top)

isbn 978-94-6022-491-1

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Monique van Herksen

Why a Book about these Three Artists?

The idea for this book was that of Irene van Herksen, who was once an art teacher on the Caribbean island of Curaçao. At different points in her life she met the three heroes of this story. Their views and philosophies greatly inspired her as a teacher.

She suggested that I document their lives and their work. In and of itself that is an astonishing suggestion. Of the many artists she met and studied, why these particular three? Each of the three artists is an immigrant, as was she. Each of the three artists encountered significant challenges in their lives, which they tackled and overcame by relying on outstanding technical skills and celebrating cultural values that are the essential anchors of art, as did she. These men, professional artists widely known for their highly identifiable work, symbolized motives and ability that she understood intimately. I think that teaching the values these artists represent was Irene’s greatest professional pleasure.

José Maria Capricorne was born on the island of Curaçao in 1932 to parents who were direct descendants of slaves. Five European countries had colonized Curaçao successively, the last being the Netherlands in 1791. By then it was a potpourri of cultures thrust together by its safe harbor, plantations and lucrative slave trade.

These origins left a permanent mark on the island’s society. Jose’s paintings reflect this environment and its developments, but also crucially depict what stays the same. We live in the age of Internet, apps and crypto currencies, yet José Maria, as did his ancestors, firmly believes that plants, animals and spirits communicate with us. These beliefs run through his entire oeuvre.

Irene and José Maria jointly graded student exams and she came to see that his friendly demeanor hides a critical and observing nature. His paintings reflect daily sunny Caribbean life yet are rife with darker political messages. His work is akin 7

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to a calypso song: bright and witty yet describing an event of political and social import satirically, with great mockery and double meaning.

Nelson Carrilho was born in 1953 on Curaçao to parents who immigrated there to work in the then booming oil industry. His bronze sculptures are inspired by his search for roots and identity and explore light and shadow.

Irene wrote that Nelson’s Carriers from Afar are: “Two figures who literally bear cultural baggage on their heads. With this statue he started developing his own language of expression, metaphorically depicting the cultural baggage of everyone. Figures reminding of Giacometti bear signs and symbols. Often they come in pairs, each individual visibly accompanied by their alter ego.” Irene ultimately concluded that cultural baggage was in fact a cultural bounty, and used that insight to develop significant art education projects such as “Treasures of Curaçao” and “Come into My Book”.

Philippe Zanolino was born in 1960 in France. He rebelled against the hierarchic military environment of his father, a military officer, and walked on the wild side of life. That led him to be incarcerated on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin and needing legal counsel, which he found in Curaçao. Irene was introduced to him in 1989, and was excited by the rawness of his work. Philippe’s fierce personal battles are reflected on canvas in bright colors, chiseled in wood or captured in metal. His work is animate, making it fit hand-in-glove into Caribbean culture and history.

This book could not have been written without research by Marianne de Tolentino, director at the National Gallery of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo, and Susan Wilczak, professor in art history at Lake Michigan College in Benton Harbor, Michigan. I held follow-up interviews and added footnote references and information to their interviews.

There are so many people I am indebted to. Not in the least the three artists’ themselves for their enormous contributions and patience. Artist Keith Milow encouraged me to keep going when the project felt too hard. Robert Corsini, producer and documentary filmmaker, made a rough-cut documentary of the artists, called “Velo Love” that showed at the 2015 Garifuna Film festival.1 Lysa Rohan helped me find a literary agent and my husband Steven Chapman critically read and reread the manuscript. Here I will stop mentioning names but there were many more.

I am Irene’s daughter and grateful to contribute to her vision.

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The documentary can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCSnZQuiGy8

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Marianne de Tolentino

An introduction to Caribbean Art and to the Dutch Antilles

Caribbean art is strong, passionate and filled with contradictions. It is traditional yet contemporary; it is frustrated but hopeful. With the exception of the likes of Wifredo Lam, a Cuba-born artist who developed an African-Cuban style of painting and was part of the Haitian “naïfs,” a very small group of artists from the Caribbean are known internationally. It is a challenge to find an internationally renowned museum that has hosted a Caribbean art exhibition. Other than museums with regional focus, for example El Museo del Barrio in New York1, and some of the great biennales that on occasion select some “rupture art” from the Caribbean region, it seems that the specialized press does not care as much for Caribbean art as it does for Latin American or Mexican art. This is unfortunate. As critics and aesthetics philosophers lament the exhausted state of contemporary expression, and at times even predict the “death” of Western art, they ignore Caribbean art.2 It is exactly there that energies, illusions, sincerity and meaning overflow, and it is time that Caribbean art gets its deserved attention.

Caribbean World Usually, when someone mentions the Caribbean, they mean a group of countries, generally islands, with different political status and organization. To these, you can add the continental territories of Belize in Mesoamerica, (the Cooperative Republic

1

El Museo del Barrio focuses on Puerto Rican, Caribbean and Latin American art. Exceptionally, in

2012, El Museo del Barrio together with the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Queens Museum of Art presented the exhibition: “Caribbean: Crossroads of the World.” In 2014 the collection migrated to the Perez Art Museum of Miami for a reconfigured show.

2

See for example the 2013 Exhibition catalog foreword to the exhibition Peter Doig, No Foreign Lands

by Sir John Leighton, Simon Groom and Nathalie Bondil.

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of) Guyana, (French) Guiana, and Suriname in South America. All of these countries, united and separated by the sea, are linked by common denominators. They have quite the same geography, sharing climate, topography, nature, and natural resources. They also share a similar history, including exterminated indigenous ancestors, the trade of African slaves, and European domination. The situation changed during the 19th and 20th centuries, with the abolition of slavery and the evolution of administrative structures - from the birth of nations, through a variety of semi-independent governments, up to full integration into the metropolis.

“The Caribbean is a kaleidoscope of races. There are Amerindians, blacks, Europeans, mulattos, Hindus, Arabs, Chinese. Different languages: Spanish, Creole, Papiamento, English, Arabic, Hebrew, French, Taki and Dutch. Multiple religions: Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, Hindu, Voodoo, Jewish. Diverse regimes and political systems: civil and military dictatorships, “caudillismo”, presidentialism, parliamentary democracy, socialism.” This statement from the Dominican literary historian, Pura Emeterio Rondon, provides a brief and colored enumeration of what makes up the Antillean ambiance and its “melting pot” culture. One could say that the relatively small Caribbean world in essence contains the world, if you observe its inhabitants, who tend to be immigrants (and frequently potential emigrants). The inhabitants of the Caribbean tend to have a deep sense of Caribbean identity and to be proud of that identity regardless of whether they are in or outside of the region.

There is a great diversity of oral expression in the Caribbean, with at least 15 Creole languages and the intense lives of the native languages. There are four official languages, all belonging to the historical colonizers of the Caribbean: Dutch, English, French and Spanish. Due to their history, there is a linguistic classification that determines (parts of) the area as the Dutch, English, French or Spanish Caribbean (sometimes adding the words “speaking,” to avoid direct reference to the colonization). This linguistic classification also reflects a de facto communication barrier between the respective countries that make up the Caribbean. In addition, it is also the most common way to label artworks and artists in or from the region. However, the classification is not always in direct relation to a country’s political status. For instance, the Spanish speaking Dominican Republic is considered part of the Spanish or Hispanic Caribbean, but gained its independence more than a century and a half ago. Puerto Rico, belonging to the same linguistic nucleus, is a free state associated with the United States.

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Caribbean Situation in Art In the field of the visual arts, we find a similar affiliation and affinity as can be observed in the linguistic field. Also, there are more artistic links between the English-speaking islands than across the linguistic barriers with a French or Spanish speaking neighborhood. In general, there has been a lack of knowledge of and interest in Caribbean art, but this indifference also exists within the Caribbean itself.

Many people seem more concerned with European or North American art than with their “own” forms of expression. At least until recently, local artists, curators and art historians tended to be more interested in projecting their art onto the “first world,” rather than their own local world.

Fortunately, this vantage point has improved a bit during the last thirty years or so.

A mutual Antillean curiosity and a desire for integration has surged and exchanges of Caribbean works and Caribbean artists have begun. Festivals and biennales – exclusively Caribbean or not – are being organized in and outside of the region and are being celebrated. The Havana Biennial Art Exhibition takes place in Havana, Cuba, every two years since 1984 and promotes contemporary art from developing countries, and from Latin American and Caribbean artists in particular. The San Juan Biennial of Latin American and Caribbean Engraving (1970-2001) was the first and probably the oldest exhibition of Latin American graphic arts. In 2004, it became the San Juan Poly/Graphic Triennial: Latin America and the Caribbean. Although these two biennials are very different, both are pioneers in the field of selecting and inviting Caribbean artists to participate and present their work. In 2010, the Caribbean and Central American Biennial of Painting was held in Santo Domingo, and was later converted into the International Triennial of the Caribbean, representing all of the visual arts categories. It pushed the whole Caribbean art scene ahead, with an increasingly strong political message. Carifesta (Caribbean Festival of Arts) is a cultural festival that is celebrated every three or so years since 1972 in different regions, and always includes art shows, although that is not the main focus of the festival. Other events have been organized temporarily, such as an annual competition Indigo in Guadeloupe and the International Biennial of Contemporary Art that was organized for the first time in 2013 in Martinique. Furthermore, Carib Art, a global Caribbean exhibition that was sponsored by unesco and organized by the unesco Secretariat of Curaçao in 1993, merits special mention. This was an important and well-planned event that marked a significant step forward for Caribbean art, and in particular for the Dutch Caribbean, although it was not as successful in promoting Caribbean art internationally as one could have hoped. The Dominican Republic’s culture and art centre Centro Leon in Santiago organizes annual didactic sessions on curating art in the region called Curando Caribe. In 2018 11

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it collaborated with El Centro Cultural de España en Santo Domingo to focus on the Spanish-speaking Caribbean with as theme ‘Caribbean Cultural Ecologies: Connecting Pasts, Presents and Futures’. Also, the national competition Concurso de arte Eduardo León Jiménez, created in 1964 in Santo Domingo, continues to evolve and is now a prestigious Latin American art competition that focuses on Caribbean art and artists. It most recently took place in 2018 and included two artists from Haiti and Martinique.

Although one can say that art in the Caribbean in general suffers from undervaluation, art and artists from the Dutch Antilles have been particularly unknown even by other Caribbean countries until recently. There is no ready explanation for this fact, as this part of the Caribbean is related to the Netherlands, a country well known for its art and art history. An international and ambitious art event dedicated to the Caribbean, Caribbean Crossroads of the World, which included the Dutch Antillean islands, represented an unprecedented exploration of Caribbean modern history and culture. It was planned in 2006 and realized six years later, with Curaçao and Aruba as key locations for dialogues between experts. The project dealt with an exhibition spanning three museums in New York and was led by four curators – Gerard Alexis, Lowery Stokes Sims, Edward Sullivan, and Yolanda Wood – alongside the project director Elvis Fuentes. The island of Curaçao was represented with a sculpture by Yubi Kirindongo.

General Trends and Origins The Dutch Caribbean is comprised of six islands: Aruba and the Dutch Antilles; Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten (shared with Saint Martin, the French portion of the same island). To these island territories, we can add Suriname (previously Dutch Guyana) which is situated on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America and gained its independence in 1975.

Since 1986, Aruba, a former part of the Dutch Antilles, separated itself and obtained a special and quite independent status. Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba are municipalities of the Netherlands. St. Maarten and Curaçao are autonomous countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Tourism is central to the economy and is particularly intense in Curaçao, Aruba and St. Maarten.

Times changed for the Dutch Caribbean when oil companies – Shell in Curaçao and Esso in Aruba – established refineries there in the 1920s. This determined the arrival of new immigrant groups from India, the Middle East and the West Indies, arrivals which continue to shape the human geography of the region. The 12

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same phenomenon occurred in Suriname with the arrival of the mining company Billiton.

The islands, although all under Dutch influence, show some distinct demographic differences. In Curaçao, Bonaire, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten, the inhabitants are generally Afro-Caribbean: descendants of African slaves and European colonizers, predominantly from the Netherlands. In Curaçao, Portuguese descendants and Jewish ethnic groups also comprise an important part of the population. The tiny population of Saba mostly derive from Scottish and Irish ancestors. Aruba was largely spared from the slave trade, its population deriving from indigenous and European people. Suriname owns the most complex population from an ethnic and cultural perspective. Descendants of African slaves and Maroons – initially sheltered deep in the forest – form the majority of the population, alongside indigenous, Javanese, Chinese and Indian people. This melting pot characteristic of the Caribbean strongly influences its local artists. The search for identity and culture, the history of slavery, discrimination and segregation along class and ethnic lines, and the concept of storytelling to educate future generations are recurring themes in Caribbean art.

In Curaçao, a political uprising that took place on 30 May 1969 requires specific mention. A labor conflict between the Shell oil company and its employees, fueled by politicians and labor union leaders, led to a protest march and numerous fires in the city of Willemstad. Vitó, a word referencing the former slave overseer or supervisor in the local Papiamentu language, was the name of a political movement and affiliated magazine in Curaçao at the time. Vitó supported a labor conflict and the strike of laborers within Shell. The conflict escalated and triggered a march where racial tensions set the tone. It was surprisingly intense and laid bare the smoldering frustrations on the island. When the march reached the town of Willemstad, buildings were set on fire and part of the city was destroyed.

The event led to an acute general awareness that more effort and investment was required to integrate the population and build a less-segregated future. It even led to the organization of an Academy of Fine Arts, as discussed later in the chapter on José Maria Capricorne, which unfortunately is now defunct. Today, artists, academics and politicians regard the uprising as a critical event in the country’s development.

Art Institutions When speaking with artists from Curaçao and Aruba, there is pessimism regarding the absence of a quality local art education, good museums, and promising work 13

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opportunities for artists. The explanation for this pessimism could be the actual or perceived need for a complete and high level art education due to the long institutional art tradition on these islands. In other Caribbean countries, this sense of pessimism doesn’t seem to be as present among artists.

On all of the Dutch Caribbean islands and Suriname there is some form of public or governmental unit that attends to the visual arts. The structure of these public units differ, however, and can be a government division, a department, a publicly funded foundation, or merely a study of cases and proposals in a more general context. Similarly, due to the global administrative organization of the colonies, there are no separate ministries of culture. The art subjects belong to the department of education and unesco in Curaçao, and a specific organization, foundation, department or division for culture in Aruba, St. Maarten, Saba and Suriname. Generally, local artists express a longing for more support and interest from their respective governments. Furthermore, the local consideration for art seems to vary depending on the available government support structure, and the leading figures on the islands and their interest in the arts.

There are no established academies that offer a complete education in art practice and theory in Curaçao. Only recently there is an Academy of Fine Arts & Design in Aruba that offers a preparatory course collaborating with the Rietveld Academy in the Netherlands. There are occasional lessons and classes provided by artists on the islands that are incidental and not structural. In Suriname, the Nola Hatterman Institute offers the curriculum of a full-time art academy. Hatterman’s (1899-1984) philosophy was that it is insufficient for colonies to be decolonized from a political perspective, but that decolonization needs to be expressed culturally as well. For aspiring artists in most Dutch Caribbean countries, a common solution to the lack of full-time art education is to go to the Netherlands or the Americas to complete their educations after preliminary training in local schools. In Saba, a Foundation for Arts organizes art classes and workshops, and in St. Maarten, the same opportunities of artistic education exist through the Department of Culture. Curaçao did have a publicly funded Academy of Fine Arts from 1972 until 2003, but its existence was intermittent during those years and once privatized, it collapsed and closed.

The Curaçao center for contemporary art, Instituto Buena Bista (ibb), has been open since 2006. It is an artists’ initiative with the goal of creating a solid platform for art and art education. ibb offers preparatory training and addresses all aspects of art and art education that make higher art education possible for talented students.

The program also covers a broad range of art from Curaçao and the Caribbean and offers artist-in-residence programs.

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Despite the differing approaches to art education and different structures that support the arts in the Dutch Caribbean, many of the contemporary Dutch Antillean artists have an excellent artistic knowledge and know-how.

On most of the islands, art is part of the regular school curriculum and even one of the disciplines included in the final high school examinations. When regional art exhibitions are organized, like those on the scale of Carib Art, special importance is usually attributed to guided visits and workshops for scholar groups. Often, information on the art exhibit and artists and mediums used are written in the English, Dutch and Papiamento languages, to encourage broad access to the information.

These types of systematic and careful attention greatly help to develop interests and determine vocations.

There is not yet a specialized museum of art, be it fine arts, modern or contemporary, in the Dutch Caribbean, except for in Paramaribo (Suriname). The available art exhibitions are usually presented in museums, conventions centers, libraries, or private institutions elsewhere. But there is room for optimism, at least for a museum of modern art in Curaçao, as the island owns a structure of small museums and successful galleries. Considering the size and population of the Dutch Caribbean islands, there are a lot of art galleries in all of them. Willemstad, the capital of Curaçao, has several active galleries that organize frequent and diverse exhibitions. There are also many local buyers and art collectors. The Curaçao art market is not quite as prosperous as the Haitian market, which developed significantly since the establishment of the Centre d’art in Port-au-Prince in 1944, but the art market clearly benefits from tourism (mostly American). Collectors from private galleries also visit the market to add frames, handicrafts, souvenirs, maps and posters to their collections.

Leading Regional Events Three relevant regional events that were organized with great artist participation and public exposure can be mentioned: Gala di Arte in 1991, Carib Art in 1993, and Identity… Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow in 1999. The three exhibits, all located in Curaçao, aspired to demonstrate the strength of Dutch Caribbean art, and they did.

In each of these events, local figures and leaders in the art field submitted their work, with a staff of efficient collaborators. Lectures, animation activities, and educative programs accompanied the exhibitions.

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Gala di Arte Gala di Arte, which took place in November of 1991, can be considered the first collective event which intended to group and exhibit artists from the Dutch Caribbean islands. In its own terms, it was “an exhibition of works by Antillean and Aruban artists.” The exhibit ended up being of a very high level, presenting original, skilled, varied work showing a fusion of regional and international characteristics. Ceramics, sculpture, painting, drawing, print, installation (one by Philippe Zanolino) alternated brilliantly, emphasized by an outstanding museography. There were 38 artists representing Curaçao, eight from Aruba, three from St. Maarten, and one from Bonaire. Maduro & Curiel’s Bank sponsored the exhibition, commemorating its 75th anniversary. One of the institution’s owners, May Henríquez, an accomplished painter herself, personally supported the organization that was headed by Henny Blok, who was the director of the now defunct Gallery Eighty-Six, and Ruby Figueroa-Eckmeyer, the head of the General Secretariat of the unesco in Curaçao.

May Henríquez and the gallery owner Henny Blok have since passed away. Both were strongly devoted to Dutch Caribbean art and paved the way for promising future developments.

Carib Art Less than two years later, in August of 1993, Carib Art was organized and financed by the National Commission for unesco of the Netherlands Antilles. For the duration of the exhibit, Curaçao became the art center of the region. It was a major challenge for the coordinator, Ruby Figueroa-Eckmeyer, and the project manager, Frank Elstak, to bring together the whole Caribbean, including Belize and the Guyanas.

The exhibit was at the International Trade Center building, where artists from all over the Caribbean entered into dialogue and created a huge and effervescent exhibition, one year after the Fifth Centennial of the Encounter between Two Worlds.3 The exhibition, in which 32 countries participated (only one was missing) was considered to be very stimulating. Art historian Adi Martis stated that “the average quality of the exhibition, due to a lack of clear criteria selection, showed a low standard, but the exhibition had great resonance.” Each participating country had its own curator, with a maximum of five artists, which presented too much for some of the participating islands and too few for others. Some of them presented minor works, paintings, drawings or sculptures, underestimating that this was an exhibit that was scheduled to travel all the way to the unesco in Paris. Comparatively, the 3

The 1992 celebration marking the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus first voyage to the

Americas.

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Dutch Caribbean was very well represented, especially Curaçao. Lectures and discussion panels completed the program, including a discussion on the necessity of having dedicated Caribbean art books. Objectively, it has been the most democratic and well-attended meeting of purely Caribbean art so far.

“Identitat… ayera awe mañan” In 1999, the Dutch Caribbean Islands of Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire commemorated 500 years of “written history.” On 23 October of that year, the exhibition and competition Arte 99 illustrating the theme: Identidat... ayera awe mañan or Identity... Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow opened its doors at the Mangasina di Arte. The location was a 19th century warehouse, property of the Maduro & Curiel’s Bank – also sponsors of this event – and presented a selection of 100 works admitted by a local jury and chosen from a collection of more than 300 works. The general curator was the renowned art historian Jennifer Smit, with the cooperation of May Henriquez’ daughter Nicole Henriquez and an efficient team of 40 collaborators, including technical agents and trained young guides.

The proportion of local participants was more or less the same as in the Gala di Arte exhibit: 28 artists from Curaçao, seven from Aruba, three from Bonaire, two from St. Maarten, two from Saba, and an additional 17 from the Netherlands with more than five years of residence in the Dutch Caribbean. Nine masters participated outside of the competition. All of the visual arts categories were considered – there were paintings, sculptures, ceramics, drawings, prints and photography.

The progress in creative thinking was also noticeable. Where in 1991 at the Gala di Arte exhibit only one modest installation was submitted (by Philippe Zanolino), the 1999 exhibit presented traditional works and installations in equal numbers, the latter perhaps being the most interesting creations.

An international jury composed by the art critics Maria Luisa Borras (Spain), Edward Sullivan (usa) and myself (Dominican Republic) conferred several honor mentions in addition to prizes. The jury was unanimous in its surprise and motivation resulting from the originality and strength of the work; the conjunction of Caribbean identity and contemporary expression that the artists presented. In the end, the installations won the prizes. The island of Aruba obtained a very high score considering the number of participants. If anything, the Arte 99 exhibit reflected a new and great interest in art installations from the Dutch Caribbean.

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A Special Glance at Curaçao Curaçao culture, playing with colors and sunlight, belongs to the melting pot that is typical of Caribbean countries. The indigenous people left some broken pieces of ceramic alongside beautiful cave paintings on the island. In the 17th and 18th centuries, painters from Europe visited Curaçao and painted landscapes and portraits. Local artists remained quite anonymous until the 19th century. At that time, several names appeared, such as the painters Cornelis Gorsira (1848-1924), Johnny J. Ecker jr. (1884-Panama †), Nechi Pieters (1898-1960), Willem Kroon (1886-1949), and the sculptor John de Pool (1863-1947).

The industrial developments that resulted from the establishment of the oil refinery may have brought some new artists to the island, but it was Chris Engels, a medical doctor and art collector, who multiplied artistic exchanges on the island since 1930 when he settled in Curaçao. At the same time, the local art scene also developed. Naïve artists, including Hipolito Ocalia, Nepomuceno and Olario, painted the vernacular ambiance, people and sites with a seducing grace and documentary value. In addition, Maximiliano Nepomuceno became well known for his sculptures made from recycled tin cans.

Art from Curaçao was finding its own character and personality through external influences, European above all, while retaining its tropical expression with a bright colored palette. It is impossible to name each and every modern creator individually in this brief introduction, but many of the island’s artists went to Europe, and of course to the Netherlands, for education, residence and work. Vice versa, artists from abroad, and especially the Netherlands, established their homes and ateliers in Curaçao, fascinated by the tropical authenticity of the island. This interaction continues to influence the level of local art and artists today.

Actual Perspectives Curaçao art continues to evolve. Contemporary and modern masters are emerging, while established artists continue to shape a distinct identity. Engaging themes and subjects, from ecology to social commentary to global approaches, tend to dominate their work. The developments around ceramic arts on the island are particularly bountiful. Meanwhile, painting, drawing, and installation art maintain their hegemony and a lot of artists produce work in several mediums and fields. There are also new mediums, such as digital photography and video art, that at this point must be recognized as very active and promising forms of expression on the island.

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The complex and unique history of the country presents multiple challenges and hopes for the future of art in Curaçao, which simply has outstanding artists of several generations. Belonging to this elite are the three artists whose personalities, styles, lives and work feed this book: Nelson Carrilho and Philippe Zanolino, analyzed by art historian Susan Wilczak, and José Maria Capricorne, analyzed by myself. It is interesting to observe that the three artists’ current residences reflect a frequently observed situation in the modern and contemporary art of Curaçao, if not in the Caribbean more generally: Carrilho and Capricorne, both natives from the island, live and work in the Netherlands, and Zanolino, a French citizen, is established in Willemstad. As such, all three of them continue to contribute to that fantastic cultural melting pot from which Caribbean art arises.

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Marianne de Tolentino

Living in a World of Magical Reality The Art and vision of José Maria Capricorne

Curaçao, the Early Years The artist José Maria Capricorne was born on 25 December 1932, under the zodiac sign of the Capricorn. He was born in Otrabanda, a historical quarter of the city of Willemstad, Curaçao’s capital. His father, Nicolaas Hendrik Capricorne, was born in Curaçao in 1898 and is from Haitian descent. He was a carpenter, as was José Maria’s grandfather. Although born in Curaçao, where the main languages at the time were Dutch and Papiamento (a local Creole language) with occasional English and Spanish, Nicolaas Hendrik also spoke Patois, the local French dialect of Haiti. José Maria knew both his grandparents from father’s side. He recalls his grandfather, Antonio Demetro Capricorne, a tall African man invariably dressed in a crisp black suit and always walking with a cane and a wicker hat, a typical “sombrero di arroz.” José Maria’s Haitian roots have influenced him culturally and spiritually throughout his life. Both his grandfather and his father ran a carpentry shop in Otrabanda, where doors and furniture were made. The shop was near Belvedere plantation house, once owned by a governor of Curaçao, Mr. A.M. de Rouville (1812-1881). José Maria’s father was a member of the local carpenter’s guild and a freemason.

The carpentry shop was also in the business of making coffins. This included the hard labor of making wooden planks from wood rafters. José Maria vividly recalls playing around in unfinished coffins with his siblings and friends. Affluent people would purchase mahogany coffins with silver handles and a silver plaque in which the name and details of the deceased were etched by hand. Less wealthy people would order a coffin made from pitch pine. Psychiatric patients, who were often considered possessed, were buried in simple coffins painted black – black being the color of the devil – the color of those without a faith. Children were buried in heavenly blue colored coffins, representing little angels and underscoring their innocence. The Caribbean island of Curaçao was a full colony of the Netherlands josé maria capricorne

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at the time, and there was a clear divide between whites and blacks and Dutch and non-Dutch people. This divide contributed to the decline of the local artisan business, as woodwork (or any work for that matter) for Dutch projects or Dutch white residents was inevitably assigned to Dutch companies and businesses, while the local black artisans got less and less business.

José Maria was the youngest of four children. He grew up with one older brother, two older sisters, and a half-brother from his father’s side who did not live in the same household. His mother, Maria Nicasia, was born in 1893 and was from Curaçao descent. Her parents were Jacobus Willems and Rosalita Fleuranges. José Maria was able to trace his family roots through the Colonial Labor Archive, which revealed that his father was a direct descendant from slaves brought over during the Dutch slave trade, which was abolished on 1 July 1863. Based on the Colonial Labor Archive, the family tree from his father’s side traces back to 1806 when slave Rosina, daughter of Maria Martha, was born on Plantation Rif St. Marie and owned by plantation owner Abraham Capriles. As was custom, her life was connected to that of her owner. When Abraham Capriles sold Rif St. Marie in 1844 to the wealthy widow of Jacob Jesurun and moved to a house in the Heerestraat in Punda, Rosina moved there with him and became a house slave. When five years later, in 1849, Abraham Capriles sold the city house and acquired Hotel Concordia, Rosina moved with him again. Until the abolition of the slave trade in the colonies by the Dutch in 1863, which was quite a bit later than by the French (1848) and the Danish West Indies (1848), Rosina was a slave of Abraham Capriles. She was about 57 years old at the time the slave trade was abolished and five of her children were still living with her. Her entire family received the last name Capricorne at that time. Her daughter Carolina Bregita Capricorne, born in 1839, had four children who were the first generation of Capricornes born into freedom after the abolition. One of them, her son Antonio Demetro Capricorne (born in 1871), was a carpenter and married Maria Helena Cornelia in 1898. That very same year they had a son, Nicolaas Hendrik Capricorne, who was José Maria Capricorne’s father. Nicolaas married the woman who would be José Maria’s mother, Maria Nicasia Willems, in 1926.

As is custom in Curaçao, his mother Maria Nicasia was deeply superstitious and believed in Brua1, the Antillean version of Vodun, popularly known as Voodoo.

Brua allocates supernatural power to deities and spirits, and to the Devil’s helpers.

Brua has its roots in Africa, mainly Benin, Ghana and Togo. Although West African slaves were generally baptized when arriving in the West Indies, the lack of Chris1

Also called bruha, brueria or bruheria and all referring to which craft and originating from West

African religions, rites and beliefs transferred within the Caribbean largely through slaves and seasonal workers from Haiti.

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tian infrastructure meant that ultimately, the slaves were left to largely follow their own faith, so they secretly adhered to some form of Vodun. Brua is accompanied by a belief that animals and dreams communicate signs and messages to individuals.

For example, a dream is seen as being a sign or conveying a message; trees cannot be moved or replanted, as that act would pull up death and disease from the ground beneath; nor can trees on old plantations be cut. Spiders that get into the house cannot be killed, as they are ghosts. Small spiders, in particularly one called Nanzi or Anancy (the main character of many tales), bring good luck, as do black bees. A chuchubi (mockingbird) that is singing a song is gossiping; a dog that dreams and jerks its paws is inhabited by a ghost; one should never pick up any coins from the floor as those are likely to have been put there as offerings or could be carrying a spell against you. Tricksters are also highly regarded in Caribbean folk culture, and the spider Nanzi or Anancy is a key figure and cause of great humor that comes back in José Maria’s artwork as well.

Spiritual mediums are consulted regularly and they are people who have a standing in society and are often feared. This upbringing and acute awareness of the presence of magic marks José Maria’s work in later life. His mother’s family were well-to-do and owned a plantation called Esperanza, with two windmills and access to fresh water. The latter is a scarce and valuable natural resource on the Caribbean island. The plantation grew many vegetables and fruits such as mango and papaya, and had a large herd of goats, turkeys, chickens, ducks and pigs. The water on the grounds was a source of income and was sold in kerosene cans for five or ten cents.

The good life in Otrabanda changed dramatically in 1946 when José Maria was 14 years old. He was at home with his father, Hendrik Nicolaas, looking out of the window. His father all of a sudden keeled over and died of a heart attack. Only after a mirror was held in front of his father’s mouth and no mist of breath appeared did the family realize that his father had passed away. The children were too young to take over the hard work of the carpentry shop and it closed. José Maria’s mother was part owner of the plantation, and thanks to her share of the proceeds from the produce, she was able to provide for the family. The family moved from Otrabanda, a busy and lively neighborhood that José Maria loved, to an area called Marie Pompoen, a newly developed suburb. Although the distance between Otrabanda and Marie Pompoen was not that far, José Maria experienced the move as a major disaster. All of his friends lived in Otrabanda and the Rif area at that time had lots of mangrove on the seaside, inhabited by birds, fish, and a variety of flora and fauna.

José Maria was enchanted with the wildlife. He very much missed the lively streets of Otrabanda and all of its characteristics: the music, the storytellers on the street, the bakers walking out of their shops to deliver pastries for the holy communions. josé maria capricorne

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Game of cat and dog

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