BOSCOE HOLDER

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Boscoe Holder was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad " very early in the 1920s".
He painted from the age of 5 and was an accomplished pianist at a very early age as well, playing for the wealthy French Creole, Chinese and Portuguese at their functions by the time he was 9 years old. In his late teens he formed his own dance company.

In his dance he used traditional Afro-Caribbean interpretations :shango, bongo and bélé. He frequently used his dancers as models for his paintings. He visited New York and Martinique in the 1940s and was exposed to experiences which promoted his black consciousness which he used in his various art forms. In 1950 Boscoe Holder moved to London,England where he danced and performed on the piano at all the well-known theatres and clubs. By that time he was married to Sheila Clarke who was his lead dancer in his own dance company and also became his favourite model for his painting.

At the end of the 1960s he returned to his native land where he established himself soon as one of the top painters, not only in Trinidad and Tobago, but throughout the Caribbean. Boscoe Holder has exhibited frequently in most of the Caribbean islands and his paintings can be found in many collections around the world.