Castera Brazile

Castera Bazile (b. October 7, 1923 – d. February 27, 1966) was a Haitian painter and muralist acknowledged as one of the foundational figures of the modern Haitian art movement. Born in Marbial (near Jacmel), Haiti, Bazile overcame early hardship to develop a distinctive style marked by bold color, simplified forms, and deep cultural resonance. Working initially as a handyman at the Centre d’Art in Port-au-Prince from 1945, he soon began painting in 1947, and by 1951 was selected among a group of eight artists to produce three major fresco-style murals in the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Port-au-Prince—an iconic achievement in Haitian art.  Bazile’s work features daily life, maternity, poverty, and spiritual themes—combining Catholic devotional imagery with Vodou undercurrents—and demonstrates his mastery of colour contrasts (blues, greens, vermilion) and a lyrical sense of composition.