Artist Eric Girault, who had emigrated to New York in 1976, only went back to Haiti 15 years later. During that trip, he was shocked to discover that the old Cathedral of Port-au-Prince had been burnt down.

In the autobiographical essay, “Heritage and Passion”, Eric describes how the memory of the rubble of the defunct cathedral haunted his mind. When he returned to New York, he writes, “I had only one idea in mind: to save the cathedral from oblivion by making a huge painting. The next morning, I set to work tirelessly. As soon as this painting was finished, I began to draw a two-story gingerbread that I saw every day along the street named Bois Verna. While I was working on painting a corner of this house’s roof, a sudden question crossed my mind: Why not make a whole series of gingerbreads before they all meet the same fate?"

With that thought, a very bold project was born. In the next few years, Eric painted 30 masterpieces: 26 gingerbread houses and 4 historical monuments. You can see all of them, as well as read Eric’s full autobiographical essay, in the book “Girault & Gingerbread, When Art Meets Architecture” which was published last December.

Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis was president of the Knowledge and Freedom Foundation (FOKAL) when the organization decided to embark on a project to save Haiti’s Gingerbread houses.  She met Eric Girault at a meeting in New York where she was giving a presentation on FOKAL’s restoration project. “He had come to exhibit a series of paintings of Gingerbread houses created by him.,” she writes. “A beautiful spectacle which added to our project on what the alliance between architecture and painting could offer to our view of Haitian creativity.”

The Institute for the Protection of National Heritage (ISPAN) has done an in-depth study on the Gingerbread architectural style, part of it is also published in the book.   In this study, ISPAN notes that “If the style of Gingerbread houses is of European origin, transplanted to Haiti, it has undergone a “culture shock” where Haitians have interpreted and adapted it to their own aesthetic language … Haitian architects translate, often readily, the European architectural language by changing scale or interpreting elements and even parts of buildings or roofs in a completely original way.”

Art historian Michel Philippe Lerebours, in an essay published in the book, calls Eric Girault’s Gingerbread project a “remarkable body of work.”  He retraces Eric Girault’s path as a painter and the impact his gingerbread project had on his art. “When Girault became interested in Gingerbread and wanted to draw inspiration from it, he was at the peak of his career: a sure technique in the handling of color and the fragmentation of the brushstroke.” Girault “will have to modify his style; abandon impasto and fragmentation of color and fall back on flat areas and take a greater interest in drawing. The result is remarkable, and we can only thank the artist.”

Many who grew up in Haiti don’t know the history of the Gingerbread houses even though they were in the neighborhood they lived in. Others don’t know much either because they left the country at a young age or were born overseas. This book will teach all to appreciate the work of memory and the art it showcases.

The Toussaint Louverture Cultural Foundation undertook the publication of “Girault & Gingerbread: When Art Meets Architecture,” because it combines Eric Girault’s exceptional work of memory with the importance of a precious heritage in danger of being lost. The Foundation, whose focus is Haitian art, is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.

Girault & Gingerbread: Quand l’art rencontre l‘architecture, When Art Meets Architecture  A bilingual French/English  Limited Edition – 80 pages Artwork photos by Alwin McCalla - Publication date: December 2024