CARL Abrahams, the veteran Jamaican painter, died peacefully at his home in St Andrew on Sunday. He was 93.

Abrahams was hailed almost immediately as "one of the true pillars of 20th century Jamaican Art," by curator of the National Gallery David Boxer.

"He served his muse well and his many masterworks which he has left us will be admired for generations to come as key monuments of the formative years of our art movement," said Boxer.

William Tavares-Finson, who as art auctioneer and collector was well familiar with Abrahams' work, characterised him as "a true original; the quintessential Jamaican artist."

Abrahams, along with the late Karl Parboosingh and Albert Huie, he said, were artists whose names and works were pre-eminent in his early appreciation of art.

Abrahams' special quality, he added, was enabling the viewer to perceive beyond the material on the canvas.

"I visited him once and he had a piece, a landscape with kind of wind swirling through the leaves. When I asked him about it, he explained that when he painted, he heard music, a song," said Tavares-Finson.

"He called it a lyrical abstraction."

Painter Joshua Higgins noted that Abrahams was a Jamaican master, who had made an invaluable contribution not just to the artistic community but to the society as a whole.
"He was one of the most consistent artists we've produced,' Higgins said. "He was driven by his convictions and this came out in his work. Also, he had a truly unique style."

Born in Kingston on May 14, 1911, Carl Myrie Abrahams began his artistic life as a gifted and prolific draughtsman while still at school, according to information supplied by the National Gallery.

After leaving school in 1928, he began to make a living as a commercial artist and under the tutelage of Cliff Tyrell, as a cartoonist.

In 1937, Abrahams met the renowned British painter Augustus John who was then painting in the island.

It was John who urged him to paint professionally. But it was not until 1944, after his return from service in the Royal Air Force in England, that Abrahams really delved into that aspect of his art.

His works include Beheading of Maggydon (1974); Judgement Day (1975); The Angels Are Weeping (1977); The Unveiling of the Statue of Simon Bolivar; Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah; Adam and Waltz of the Horses.

His final decades saw few new developments in his work, said the National Gallery's bio of the late painter, adding that he replicated many of his earlier paintings in copies and variations.

Abrahams was the recipient of many national honours, including the Order of Distinction and the Gold Musgrave Medal, for his contribution to the arts.

Funeral arrangements will be announced by his family.

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