Virginia Museum Receives “Transformative” Gift of Haitian Art

For over three decades, textile artist Myrlande Constant has depicted scenes from Haitian history, religion, and daily life through the large-scale, labor-intensive beaded embroidery of traditional Vodou flags. Now, her work will join the permanent collection of the Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia, as part of a landmark gift of approximately 100 modern and contemporary Haitian artworks from collectors John Fox Sullivan and his late wife Beverly Sullivan. 

The Sullivans were longtime members of the Haitian Art Society and traveled to the Caribbean country over two dozen times since 1977, amassing a comprehensive collection of Haitian artwork over the course of four decades. In 2023, they gifted 15 paintings to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, which are currently on display in the exhibition Spirit and Strength: Modern Art from Haiti. 

“The Sullivan collection includes some of Haiti’s most renowned artists and features a rare work by Hector Hyppolite, ‘Fete du Morts’ (1946–48), that was previously in the collection of Irving Berlin and has not before been on public display,” Karen E. Milbourne, director of the museum, told Hyperallergic. 

Consisting of textile work, metalwork, assemblage, and paintings, the Fralin Museum’s acquisition features contemporary painters Frantz Zéphirin and Louisiane Saint Fleurant, as well as 20th-century artists like Toussaint Jacques Auguste, Rigaud Benoît, and Philomé Obin, who were all early members of Le Centre d’Art, one of the oldest cultural organizations in the Caribbean.

“Among the works by Philomé Obin is a self-portrait of the artist receiving a prize, as well as complementary works by his brother Sénèque Obin, allowing an opportunity to compare the artistic talent in this family,” Milbourne said, adding that many of the works reference Haitian politics and history, Christian and Vodou traditions, as well as activities like farming and fishing. 

A selection of more than 20 works will go on view in the exhibition Haiti’s Time, slated to open to the public on August 30 and run through January 4, 2026. The gift to the museum also includes the establishment of the Sullivan Collection Endowment for Access and Education, which will support the artworks’ care, research, and future programming.