Vintage Haitian painting - "Storm's Shipwreck" by Charles Obas -

Was in a gray laminated wooden frame - the laminate pealed off revealing a lovely wooden frame – oil on masonboard – late ‘60’s - framed 19.25x27.25 - unframed 24x16 - signed.

Charles Obas was born in Plaisance in the north of Haiti in1927 and disappeared in October of 1969.
In 1950, numerous artists who were discontent with the current political scene, under the guidance of Lucien Price, Max Pinchinnat, and Cedor, separated from the "Centre d'Art” and founded the "Foyer des Arts Plastiques". It is from there that the "Realism of Cruelty" theme would spring forth with social paintings by Nehemy Jean, Denis Vergin, Denis Emile, Charles Obas, and Cedor.
Charles' youngest son, Beethova Obas, an accomplished artist in his own right, was born in 1964 under the dictatorial regime of François Duvalier. Unfortunately, Charles did not have the opportunity to see his son fulfill the promise of his name. Running afoul of the feared "Tonton Macoutes", the political thugs of the Duvalier regime that ruled Haiti for decades, Charles Obas "disappeared" in October, 1969 after having been arrested for demonstrating in front of the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince. A passionate music lover, he left numerous instruments amongst the canvases in his studio, and it was in his father's now deserted workplace that Beethova first picked up the accordion and the guitar and taught himself to play.
Obas’ earlier works were more brightly colored but after he became politically active his paintings took on a more dark and somber character reflecting the pain he felt for his beloved Haiti and being part of the "Realism of Cruelty" movement.
Expressionism - an early 20th-century movement in art, literature, and drama, characterized by distortion of reality and the use of symbols, stylization, etc. to give objective expression to inner experience.
Impressionism - depicting the natural appearances of objects by means of dabs of strokes of primary unmixed colors in order to simulate actual reflected light.