Haitian Farmer: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This is an oil painting by Pétion Savain belonging to Etta Moten Barnett. It is a portrait of a man depicting him from the waist up, positioned a quarter-turn away from the viewer. He wears a red shirt with white on the one visible left hand cuff and a wide brimmed hat with a narrow red band around the crown. The artist signed and dated the painting in the bottom right corner. An inscription on the back of the frame reads: "Haitian Farmer [ from E. Moten Barnett Collection] / From / Centre d'Art st Port-au-Prince / 1965 Artist: Savain of Haiti."

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1965
• Created by: Pétion Savain, Haitian, 1906 - 1973
• Owned by: Etta Moten Barnett, American, 1901 - 2004
• Type: oil paintings
• Type: portraits
• Medium: oil paint on canvas board
• Dimensions: H x W (painting): 19 5/16 × 9 1/2 in. (49.1 × 24.2 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W x D (frame): 23 1/2 × 13 3/4 × 1 in. (59.7 × 34.9 × 2.5 cm)
• Place made: Haiti, Caribbean, Latin America, North and Central America
• Place used: Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: African diaspora
• Topic: Art
• Topic: Broadway Theatre
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Topic: Women
• Object number: A2022.13.1.83
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © Pétion Savain Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.