Big Bass Bonanza

Six summer exhibits keep museum sizzling

Comments (0) By Carlos Suarez De Jesus Thursday, Jun 15 2006

...continued from page 1

When it comes to healthcare, many Haitians have access to only homemade herbal remedies, a notion captured by Ernst Prophete's painting Chez un Docteur Feuille. It shows a group of patients waiting to see a leaf doctor in what appears to be a rural emergency room that may double as a dining room. A woman who is nude from the waist up sits on a straw mat to receive treatment. While others await their cures, jars full of leeches and leaves soaking in liquid sit on a table. A man bleeding from his leg, his head hanging in anguish, sits on a picnic bench to the far right. Jacques Hyppolite's color-saturated oil-on-board piece, Reptiles and Insects (1979), portrays a vision of nature where butterflies are as ornate as lace, and giant emerald frogs and golden-armored crabs tangle for supremacy.

Demme's collection is a joy to discover and leaves a lingering impact. It's easy to see why he claims to be driven by a passion he calls "Haiti-mania." The director expresses a fantasy in which mankind makes a pilgrimage to Haiti, saying most visitors would also be bitten by the bug after one trip. A visit to his collection promises to turn the trick as well, provided you pencil in plenty of time.