Gaston Tabois - Roadmenders (1956), Collection: National Gallery of Jamaica (photo: courtesy of Alison Tabois) I vividly remember my first encounter with Gaston Tabois (1924-2012), at least in terms of the impression he made on me rather than for the occasion itself. It must have been in late 1984 or early 1985, when I had... Continue Reading →
Memoirs: Everald Brown (1917-2002)
Everald Brown at the Assembly of the Living, 82 1/2 Spanish Town Road, West Kingston, c1974 (photographer unknown) This article was originally published in two parts in the Jamaica Monitor August 1 and 8, 2021, respectively. It is now posted here with minor editorial changes. Part 1 Everald Brown – or Brother Brown, as his... Continue Reading →
Art Criticism and the Jamaican Art Ecology – the 1980s
The self-taught artist Everald Brown with the author in 1987, in the Kapo Gallery at the National Gallery. Part of Kapo's head (and turban) can be seen to the right Why is it that locally directed and published art criticism has all but disappeared in Jamaica? I am talking mainly about newspaper criticism, which was... Continue Reading →
The End of an Era
This is a sad moment in Jamaica's cultural and artistic history. I understand that the house of David Boxer, the late art historian, artist and collector, is slated for demolition, to make way for what will probably be another run-of-the-mill apartment complex, of which Kingston hardly needs any more. For those who did not know... Continue Reading →
Notes on Jamaica’s Art Histories #3: Intuitive Art as a Canon, Redux
As I continue my reflections on Jamaica's art histories, I am now sharing some of my thoughts on the Intuitive art designation, which has been an essential but problematic and controversial part of Jamaica's main art-historical narration. Earlier versions of this essay, which was itself extracted from my doctoral dissertation in progress (Emory, 2011 -... Continue Reading →
Memoirs: Visiting Leonard Daley
My father-in-law, Walter Rammelaere, passed away recently. He was, among other things, an amateur photographer and when my husband, Marc, rummaged through his photographic files recently, he found photographs of a long-forgotten visit to the self-taught, "Intuitive" Jamaican artist Leonard Daley (1930-2006), who lived in the hills of St Catherine. I have reproduced a few... Continue Reading →