# Hervé Télémaque artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/herve-telemaque/
Profile generated: 2026-05-23T18:37:19.888Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1937-11-05
- Nationality: Haitian, French
- Movements: Surrealism, Narrative Figuration
- Common media: Painting, Sculpture, Collage, Drawing, Illustration

## About Hervé Télémaque

Hervé Télémaque (1937–2022) was a Haitian-born French painter, sculptor, collagist, and illustrator recognized for his role in the Surrealist and Narrative Figuration movements. Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Télémaque moved to Paris in 1961 and became a naturalized French citizen in 1985. His work blends figurative imagery with surrealist invention, drawing on personal history, Caribbean identity, and the visual language of popular culture. Over a career spanning six decades, he produced paintings, drawings, collages, and sculptures that have entered major museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Télémaque's distinctive approach to narrative figuration set him apart from his contemporaries and continues to attract scholarly and collector attention.

## Common works and media

Collectors most frequently encounter Télémaque's acrylic and oil paintings on canvas, often featuring bold color and figurative compositions. He also produced collages combining painted and found elements, ink and graphite drawings, limited-edition prints, and small-scale sculptures. Common subjects include stylized human figures, dreamlike scenes, and motifs drawn from Caribbean and European cultural references.

## Market and appraisal context

Hervé Télémaque's work appears at international auction primarily as paintings, works on paper, collages, and prints. His connection to the Narrative Figuration movement and his museum-held works contribute to sustained collector interest. Factors that may affect appraisal include the work's medium and date, whether it falls within his recognized 1960s–1970s period, exhibition and provenance history, condition, and whether the piece has been included in a catalogue raisonné or institutional exhibition. Comparable public auction records should be consulted for any formal valuation.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. This page draws on authority files from the Getty ULAN, VIAF, the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, the Library of Congress, Wikidata, and published biographical references.

## Sources

- RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/132760
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q481327
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herv%C3%A9_T%C3%A9l%C3%A9maque
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/34463574/
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500025851
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50008220
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/5827