- CONTRIBUTED
From left, Jennifer Lim, Wallace Campbell, Sir Howard Cooke, Welston Taylor, Wayne Chen and Manual Mendive, take a breather from viewing art works at the home of collector Wallace Campbell.
Chester Francis-Jackson, Gleaner Writer
DEARS, THERE are passions, and there are passions! Some are celebrated and others ignored as they are not deemed fit for polite social discourse. And, then, there are some that have transcended the mundane and arbitrary of the emotive, to evolve into international folkloric culture!
Kingston businessman Wallace Campbell, is a man of passion, his passion is art collection, and what a passion it is! Luvs, we are talking the single largest individual collection of Jamaican and Caribbean art ever amassed by any one collector in this hemisphere and boasting the masters of their craft.
Dears, we are talking an art collection here, culled from the very best of the forerunners of the Caribbean art movement, the centers being Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica. Anyway, last Friday, in an effort to raise funds for a number of his Masonic charities, the art collector opened up the collection at Seaview Avenue, residence and hosted a pre-Christmas exhibition, that was really so fabulous, it brought chills to the spine.
Dovecakes, dubbed 'Jamaica Cuba Dialogue', we are talking about one of the most comprehensive displays of Jamaican and Cuban masters of the 19th and 20th centuries here, as the display began with some of the more prominent painters in Cuban art history, as they initiated the modern movement now known as La Vanguardia, and includes the works of such greats as Eduardo Abela, Victor Manual, Carlos Enriquez, Amelia Palaez, Ponce de Leon, Pogolotti, and arguably the greatest of them all Wifredo Lam.
Then there were works from the mid 20th century masters with a reserved room for the works of 19th century greats .
And complementing the works of the Cuban masters, were the Jamaican masters like Namba Roy; Carl Parboosingh; John Dunkley; Eugene Hyde; Kapo; Edna Manley; Albert Huie; Ronald Moodie; Osmond Watson; Ralph Campbell; Colin Garland; Dr. David Boxer; Milton George; George Rodney; Christopher Gonzales and others.
Oooh, my dears, if a thing of beauty is a joy forever, then indeed, Wallace Campbell, must be a joyful man, as without a doubt, here was a simply and wonderfully great collection of immeasurable beauty in depth, perspective, and cultural appeal.
Among those out were: Jamaica's first citizen Governor-General Sir Howard Cooke; doyen of the Jamaican art scene Dr. David Boxer; renowned sculptor Winston Patrick; internationally celebrated Cuban artist (who flew in for the show), Manuel Mendive and entourage that included Dr. Guillermina Romas, Carlos Molena and Alexander Gonzales; former High Commissioner to London Ambassador and Mrs. David Muirhead; Roy and Sylvia Collister; Robert MacMillan; Abdulla Marzouca; Dr. Don Christian and companion the
lovely Hyacinth Davidson.
Also Diana McConnell; Alvaro and Jean Casserly; Jennifer Lim; Karl Wright; Hugh and Margaret Croskery and their nephew James Watson; Tom and Rose Tavares-Finson; Billy Young-Chin and wife Kaye; Wayne Chen; Deryck and Beryl Russell; Herman van Asbroeck; Afief and Maggie Lazarus; Laurie Mahfood; Dr. Jonathan Greenland and wife, Dr. Rebecca Tortello; Michael Shim; William and Sandy Tavares-Finson; David Read; Karen Zacca; William and Rose Thwaites; Anthony Harris; Lisa Marzouca and daughter, Jessica, Richard and Lisa Chen; Mary Viera; Tommy Smith; Mark and Veerla Rammelaere; Vance Campbell; siblings Debra and Jason Lopez; Dr. David Lambert-Brown; mom and daughter, Jackie and Jordana Gregg; Linton Andrews; Andrew and Jackie Phillips; Peter Croswell; Mr. and Mrs. Ken William-Singh; Bret Wong; Martica Tinkerdorf and the charming Jane Cheswick.
