Hector Hyppolite (1894-1948):

Widely credited as the grandfather of the mid-century Haitian art renaissance, Hector Hyppolite was also a hougan or Vodou priest, following in the steps of his father and grandfather.

Unlike many island-bound colleagues, he saw a bit of the world. At the end of World War I, he boarded a freighter and visited Africa and Cuba, where he worked cutting sugar cane. While his travels are recorded in some biographies, others say that these out-of-country visits may have only been imaginary. This native of St.Marc, who once painted floral decorations on chamber pots, had a short-lived but meteoric art career of just three years, launched with the discovery of the doors he painted on a bar in Montrouis.