Overview:
The Fralin Museum of Artwork on the College of Virginia has obtained a donation of recent Haitian artwork from the gathering of John Fox Sullivan and Beverly Knight Sullivan. The acquisition consists of roughly 100 works, together with work, metalwork, assemblages, and drapo Vodou. A particular exhibition, Haiti’s Time, is deliberate for fall 2025, highlighting Haitian artwork and tradition.
The Fralin Museum of Artwork on the College of Virginia has obtained a significant donation of Haitian artwork, including to the college’s Caribbean and Africana research assets, the museum introduced on March 4. The present, from John Fox Sullivan and the late Beverly Knight Sullivan,artwork fanatics and members of the Haitian Art Society (HAS), consists of about 100 works, making it one of the vital vital collections of recent Haitian artwork within the U.S.
The gathering options work by famend Haitian artists similar to Hector Hyppolite, Philomé Obin, and Myrlande Fixed, together with metalwork, assemblages, and drapo Vodou—ceremonial flags with religious and historic significance.
Included within the present are 70 work by internationally acclaimed Haitian artists similar to Hector Hyppolite, Philomé Obin, and Myrlande Constant, together with intricate metalwork, assemblages, and drapo Vodou—Haitian ceremonial flags with religious and historic significance. The gathering is supposed to function a key useful resource for students and college students whereas introducing the broader public to Haiti’s creative traditions.
To assist the gathering, a devoted endowment has been established to make sure its maintenance, examine, and show.
“[This gift] will significantly enrich our Caribbean and Africana research packages and, importantly, function a vibrant useful resource in our neighborhood whereas increasing appreciation for Haitian tradition,” mentioned Fralin Director Karen E. Milbourne, in a press release.
“I selected UVA as a result of it is likely one of the most distinguished universities that can also be dedicated to increasing its horizons and that of its college students,” John Fox Sullivan mentioned, who additionally serves on the board of HAS. “The workforce’s energetic dedication to taking an expansive view of integrating our assortment with its supporting archives, not solely at The Fralin but additionally with the entire tutorial program, was compelling to me.”
A decades-long ardour for Haitian artwork
John and his late spouse Beverly, first solid a connection to Haitian artwork again in 1977, after they visited Haiti for the primary time.
Over the subsequent 4 a long time, they returned greater than 25 occasions, buying works and promoting Haitian paintings to assist assist the nonprofit group Eye Care, Inc., that constructed and is managing seven ophthalmology clinics in Haiti and coaching medical doctors.
“It’s an obsession, form of an dependancy,” Sullivan mentioned in a 2023 interview about his expansive assortment.
For practically 40 years, John was a Washington D.C.-based journal government serving as president and writer of Nationwide Journal, The Atlantic, and a number of other different “contained in the beltway” political publications.
After shifting to Washington, Virginia, he served as mayor from 2010-2018.
Beverly Knight Sullivan handed away in June 2024. Along with her appreciation of Haitian artists and her charitable work, she served as a docent for 20 years on the Smithsonian Nationwide Museum of Pure Historical past.
“Once we first went to Haiti, we had no concept we’d gather the artwork,” John mentioned. “We didn’t know what it was. However we thought Haiti was magical.”
In August, Milbourne, UVA Professor Laurent Dubois, and Assistant Curator Ariel Ankrah will host an exhibition titled Haiti’s Time, curated from the gifted assortment that explores Haitian artwork by three thematic lenses: “Historic Time, Private Time, and Sacred Time.”
The donation builds on the Sullivans’ prior contributions to main establishments. In 2023, they gifted twelve work to the Nationwide Gallery of Artwork in Washington, D.C., that are at the moment on show in Spirit and Strength: Modern Art from Haiti.