Leaning Towards The Light
The Trinidad & Tobago Art Society celebrates 75 years
By Anna Walcott-Hardy
To truly appreciate Trinidad and Tobago is to spend a few minutes or hours admiring the contemporary art of the twin islands, the world certainly has - one of the oldest Society’s in the Caribbean is a good place to start. The Trinidad and Tobago Art Society began with a select group of revolutionary painters and writers. It was an era when Caribbean people were looking towards independence, beyond the boundary of colonialism towards creating a genuine, probing aesthetic. Amy Leong Pang, Hugh Stollmeyer and Sybil Atteck among others, were known as the Society of Trinidad Independents - these were the pioneers of the movement. According to the society’s website, they admired the works of Gauguin, Modigliani and had a growing fascination with African art. “Their metaphysical leanings found a ready response in Shango – Baptist beliefs with strong echoes of Orisha in Benin. The group ran afoul of a fundamentalist press whose vitriolic attacks were partially responsible for the disintegration of the body (after nine years) in 1938. Their pioneering visual work, however, was to have a profound influence on the development of art in Trinidad and Tobago...This led to the establishment of the Trinidad Art Society in 1943, through the persistence of Sybil Atteck, a biological draughtsman and watercolourist who later studied under the German expressionist Max Beckman... Within a decade their emergence as a formal organisation began to bear fruit. Patronised by the British Council which for some twenty years provided free studios, lecturers, books and scholarships, the society maintained an ambitious programme of classes and critiques.” “Today, we are a society that’s an umbrella organisation for all art forms and our members get exposure by being part of the group exhibition held twice a year,” explained Acting President (2017) Ronald Ramkissoon. The non-profit institution in Federation Park, Port of Spain, also hosts seminars and workshops for artists of varying proficiencies including courses for beginners, intermediates and
advanced level and its 200-plus members get an opportunity to exhibit work in the group shows at the gallery. Among its many venerated teachers at the art society, who also trained with Atteck and Leong Pang, was the unassuming Carlisle Chang. Born in San Juan in 1921, he was a highly respected Carnival designer, sculptor and fine artist who died in 2001. An extraordinary painter in oils, mixed media and watercolour, who was influenced by cubism as well as local folk art and Amerindian iconography, he always underscored how important being raised in a multi-ethnic society was to his imagery and development of his unique style. Over a 60 year span he also designed the national flag and created several prophetic murals including the now lost, ‘Inherent Nobility of Man’, which Geoffrey MacLean described as “possibly the most important work of art in the Caribbean.” Peter Minshall in an interview with Nicholas Laughlin in Caribbean Beat magazine, explained eloquently that Chang “was among the first to understand that this place is an incredible laboratory of the New World, an orchid house where incredible hybrids need to be nurtured”. Last year there were several historic restrospectives from these New World artists, including the final exhibition by Harry Bryden. At 87, Bryden’s ‘A Journey Though The Past’ featured watercolour and oil paintings from the family’s private collections as well as limited edition prints. Another much-anticipated exhibition was ‘The Light In Paint’, featuring the works of master watercolourist, Jackie Hinkson, also held at the Trinidad and Tobago Art Society. The show was an insightful, sober rendering of plein-air painting that captured the history and looked towards the future of Trinidad and Tobago. “What I know for sure is that art has played a significant role in all societies in the history of man,” Above: Tassa & Hosay II by Sundiata Right: Immortelle, Bend In The Road by Harold Bryden
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