Devotees of the arts have a great number of art galleries to choose from all
around the island, though most often situated in the vicinity of more
popular tourist areas. Galleries are privately owned but usually free of
charge, displaying the works of local or foreign artists dealing with
Caribbean themes, forms and colours.
Small in size but rich in museums is how we can define Saint Martin, a place
that inspired a great number of European and American painters and native
artists alike. Its artistic microclimate exalted the imagination of many a
craftsman, and not surprisingly, the beauty of its landscapes, transparency
of its waters and omnipresent light seem to act in favour of talent. Renamed
painters, sculptors and ceramists such as Jasper Johns reside more or less
frequently on the island, and native[...]
In recent years, Martinique has prided itself in displaying an extensive palette of local painters and sculptors. Exhibitions are more frequent than ever, and the general public has also been widening from connoisseurs to the simply interested. Some of the island’s artists are of native background, others merely residents, some self-educated, others graduates of renowned art schools of the region or elsewhere. Tendencies are in line with all schools from figurative and naïve to symbolic or contemporary and the artists themselves also work in different[...]
Multiple alliances between families, contracted for more than 150 years among the most authentic descendants of the island’s first inhabitants have contributed to keeping Saint Barth’s traditional heritage alive.
The few integrated foreigners mostly originate from European or American upper class families: artists, university graduates, businessmen. Retired from their jobs and society in general, they have chosen Saint Barth as a perfect Hedonist paradise for their late years.
Don’t miss the natural jewellery workshop, manufacturing jewels out of shells, marine and plant objects dipped in a bath of 24-carat gold, as well as the permanent exhibition of wooden sculptures (ebony, guaiacum, manchineel, Yocatan logwood...).
To visit: the Martine Cotten Gallery, exhibiting paintings by this lady of
Breton origin, well-known and loved in the West Indies (another one of her
galleries is situated in Pont-Aven en Bretagne, the domain of Paul Gauguin).
Posters and postcards of her works are on sale here.
