Influences on Caribbean Art

Abstract Expressionist and Modern Art Influences

A set of artists were able to engage with the excitement of Modern Art and Abstract Expressionist developments in New York and London during the 1950-60s.  Artists who had been to and lived in, these cities when these movements were in their heyday, came back to Jamaica with new influences and ideas.

 Artists such as Fitz Harrack and David Boxer made work which veered towards the creation of abstracted realities, which provoked thought about Caribbean history and culture.

Other Jamaican artists integrated the influences of Modern artists overseas with regional subject matter to create a brand of Caribbean abstraction.

The Modernist interest in exploring the materiality of paint and finding new means of applying it to a canvas is evident in the work of Milton Harley, Karl Parboosingh, Hope Brooks and Eugene Hyde; even as they explored the holdovers of Colonialism and their context in Jamaica.

Excerpt of a paper by Oneika Russell on the History and Development of Jamaican Fine art. 

For more go to:  https://www.experiencejamaique.com/key-moments-jamaican-art-scene-development-history-4

Also visit our gallery for contemporary Jamaican/Caribbean fine art:  https://www.experiencejamaique.com/product_gallery

Updated May 2020

September 2019