Etzer Charles Paintings
Etzer Charles was born in Jacmel on June 25, 1945, and died in Paris, France, on February 20, 2021. Etzer did his classical studies at J.M. Henriquez in his hometown and at Port-au-Prince at the Lycée Pétion. He graduated in economics from the Faculty of Law of Port-au-Prince. Etzer started to paint at an early age by watching his brother paint. But it was only In 1962 he took up painting as a self-taught artist. In 1975, he went to France to study Political Science at the University of Paris.
"A master of the narrative style. Charles depicts social disturbances in Haiti," says art critic and author Gerald Alexis in his book Peintres Haitiens.
Along with a diplomatic career in France, Etzer continued and exhibited his work in painting. In 1986 Etzer Charles participated in founding in Port-au-Prince of the National Association of Haitian Plastic Artists, of which he was the president. Without abandoning its attachment to realism, Etzer Charles's work borrows some formal characteristics from surrealism. The geometric shapes intertwine to create structures that twist for the disorder that refers to the ambient social chaos. (Biographical source: Haiti et Ses Peintres by Philippe Michel Lerebours)
