Annunciation

1958

Rigaud Benoit

Associated Names
Rigaud Benoit

Artist, Haitian, 1911 - 1986

This painting shows two people with light brown skin and dark hair. On the left, a woman kneels in prayer, wearing a bright red garment with a white collar and a blue veil. She has a hoop earring in her ear and a rope tied around her waist. On the right, a person with white wings and a golden halo gestures toward her, standing and wearing a light blue garment with a brown cloth tied across their body. The two people are on a brown patch of ground by a large, brown, leafless tree, and around them is a lush landscape with trees, pink flowers, and small white sheep grazing.
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Artwork overview

More About this Artwork

This is a painting of a ceremonial procession passing through a tan wall with three large archways decorated with vibrant red-and-blue flags. Through the large, central archway, a group of men on horseback process toward us, the men wearing hats and uniforms in shades of green, gray, and blue. At the front of the group is a man with brown skin and a gray beard, wearing a red-and-blue sash over a green jacket and a black hat with a white plume. A well-dressed crowd is gathered around the procession, wearing colorful dresses and suits in shades of pink, teal, blue, and purple. They look towards the figures on horseback, and many of them clap. Among the people in the crowd and those on horseback, there is a wide variety of skin tones, including dark brown, light brown, tan, and pale pink. Beyond the arched openings, a long road lined with small, colorful buildings in shades of pink, yellow, and brown is visible under a blue sky.

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Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Centre d’Art, Port-au-Prince; purchased 1961 by Rev. Newton Carlyle Spitz, Jr. [1931-2003];[1] (sale, Bonhams-Skinner,
Boston, Lot 16, November 17, 2022); Kay and Roderick Heller; gift 2023 to NGA.
[1] Inscription on the reverse reads N.C. SPITZ/PURCHASED/CENTRE D'ART/1961. Spitz was an Episcopalian priest from New York who served at Holy Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Port-au-Prince and was Director of the Centre d'Entrainement at Montrouis, Haiti.

Associated Names

Inscriptions

lower right: R. Benoit / 31/1/58
reverse, in another hand: N.C. SPITZ/PURCHASED/CENTRE D'ART/1961

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