# Préfète Duffaut artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/prefete-duffaut/
Profile generated: 2026-05-24T10:38:20.037Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1923-01-01
- Death date: 2012-10-06
- Nationality: Haitian
- Movements: Haitian naïve art
- Common media: oil painting, drawing

## About Préfète Duffaut

Préfète Duffaut (1923–2012) was a Haitian painter and poet born in Jacmel, Haiti, who worked primarily in Port-au-Prince. He is recognized as a leading figure in the Haitian naïve art tradition, creating vividly colored paintings that depict scenes of daily life, landscapes, and imaginative compositions in a self-taught, direct style. Duffaut's work draws on Haiti's visual culture and communal traditions, and he is documented as having been influenced by William Kraus. His paintings are held in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and his career is recorded in major authority files including the Getty Union List of Artist Names, the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, and VIAF. Duffaut continued working until his death in Port-au-Prince in 2012.

## Common works and media

Duffaut is best known for oil paintings on canvas and board, often depicting Haitian landscapes, village scenes, architectural views, and fantastical or dreamlike compositions rendered in a naïve, brightly colored style. Drawings on paper also appear in institutional and auction records. Works range from small-scale pieces to larger multi-figure compositions. Collectors may also encounter reproductions or prints; attribution of original works should be confirmed through provenance and connoisseurship.

## Market and appraisal context

Préfète Duffaut's paintings appear with regularity at international auction, particularly in sales of Haitian, Caribbean, and naïve or self-taught art. Collectors encounter his work at major houses and specialized galleries dealing in Caribbean art. Key valuation factors include provenance documentation, condition, size, subject matter, and whether the work dates from a recognized period of the artist's output. Institutional holdings at MoMA provide a benchmark of recognition. As with much Haitian art, careful provenance review is advisable, and appraisals should reference comparable public auction results where available.

## 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. Information on this page is drawn from museum collections, library authority files, and published biographical references as cited.

## Sources

- RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/24604
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/1643
- VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/228722817/
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500081400
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3057642
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2016055398
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pr%C3%A9f%C3%A8te_Duffaut