Xavier Amiama (1910-1969)

Xavier Amiama was born in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic in 1910 and died in Haiti in 1969. After numerous single artist shows in Santo Domingo, Amiama settled in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 1936 to teach painting. He encouraged Pétion Savain to participate in the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Amiama was among the original members of the Art Center and participated in several of its group exhibitions. In June of 1945, he held a single-artist show at the Art Center and exhibited with American army veterans in March of 1951. (Peinture Haitienne /Haitian Arts by Marie-José Nadal and Gérald Bloncourt)