b. 1899
Born in Croix de Bouquets, Liautaud was discovered by Dewitt Peters as he was driving by the cemetery near Liautaud’s house: he was struck by the elaborate wrought iron crosses adorning the tombstones. Peters commissioned him to try sculpting in a different subject matter and the result was the emergence of an entirely new genre of Haitian art. Liautaud is preeminent among Haitian sculptors; his work has a simple delicacy and has inspired metalwork as an official art form in Haiti. From forging to chiseling his pieces,Liautaud has always worked in an innovative and creative manner. A practitioner of Voodoo, one of his favorite subjects is the loa La Sirene. He also created several images of goats, an animal that is symbolic of a voodoo practitioner possessed by a spirit: the spirit is said to ride into our world on the back of the one possessed.
