Boscoe Holder

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Trinidadian artist, dancer, choreographer, and musician (1921–2007)

title: "Boscoe Holder" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1921-births", "2007-deaths", "20th-century-male-artists", "20th-century-trinidad-and-tobago-painters", "21st-century-male-artists", "21st-century-trinidad-and-tobago-painters", "alumni-of-queen's-royal-college,-trinidad", "deaths-from-prostate-cancer-in-trinidad-and-tobago", "people-from-port-of-spain", "recipients-of-the-hummingbird-medal", "trinidad-and-tobago-choreographers", "trinidad-and-tobago-dancers", "trinidad-and-tobago-expatriates-in-the-united-kingdom", "trinidad-and-tobago-musicians", "trinidad-and-tobago-people-of-barbadian-descent"] description: "Trinidadian artist, dancer, choreographer, and musician (1921–2007)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boscoe_Holder" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Trinidadian artist, dancer, choreographer, and musician (1921–2007) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
nameBoscoe Holder
birth_nameArthur Aldwyn Holder
birth_date
birth_placeArima, Trinidad and Tobago
death_date
death_placeNewtown, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
occupationPainter, designer and visual artist, dancer, choreographer, musician
childrenChristian Holder
spouse
familyGeoffrey Holder (brother)
Ralph McDaniels (second cousin)
::

| name = Boscoe Holder | image = | caption = | birth_name = Arthur Aldwyn Holder | birth_date = | birth_place = Arima, Trinidad and Tobago | death_date = | death_place = Newtown, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago | occupation = Painter, designer and visual artist, dancer, choreographer, musician | years_active = | height = | children = Christian Holder | spouse = | awards = | family = Geoffrey Holder (brother) Ralph McDaniels (second cousin) | alma_mater = Boscoe Holder (16 July 1921 – 21 April 2007), born Arthur Aldwyn Holder in Arima, Trinidad and Tobago, was Trinidad and Tobago's leading contemporary painter, who also had a celebrated international career spanning six decades as a designer and visual artist, dancer, choreographer and musician.

Living in London, England, during the 1950s and 1960s, Boscoe Holder has been credited with introducing limbo dancing and steel-pan playing to Britain, performing on British television and radio, in variety and nightclubs, in films, and at well-known theatres in London's West End. His company also danced for Queen Elizabeth II at her coronation in 1953, and, two years later, at Windsor Castle.

He is considered one of the top painters from the Caribbean and his works are in many collections around the world. Particularly recognizable for his paintings of people of colour, reflecting his appreciation of Caribbean people and culture, Holder often used his dancers as models, his "favourite" being his wife Sheila who was also lead dancer in his company.

Early life

Born in Trinidad to Louise de Frense and Arthur Holder from Barbados, Boscoe Holder was the eldest of five children. He attended Tranquility Intermediate School and Queen's Royal College. He started a musical career at a young age, playing the piano professionally for rich French creole, Portuguese and Chinese families. In his teens, he began painting seriously. He was an early member of the Trinidad Art Society, along with people such as Ivy Hochoy, Hugh Stollmeyer and Amy Leong Pang.

Holder also formed his own dance company, the Holder Dance Company. His style carefully preserved Afro-Caribbean tradition. His paintings and dances were inspired by the shango, bongo and bélé dances, of the slaves. In 1947, he visited the US, where he taught dancing at the Katherine Dunham School and exhibited his paintings at a gallery in Greenwich Village, Boscoe's younger brother, actor Geoffrey Holder – perhaps best known for his role as the villain Baron Samedi in the 1973 James Bond-film Live and Let Die – joined Boscoe's dance company at the age of seven.

London years

In April 1950, Holder with his wife and son went to live in London, which became their home for the next two decades, their circle of friends including Oliver Messel and Noël Coward.

The dance company toured all over Europe and further afield (Finland, Sweden, Belgium, France, Spain, former Czechoslovakia, Italy, Monte Carlo and Egypt), Holder and his wife appeared again before the Queen in 1955, at a Command Performance at Windsor Castle.

On 31 July 1955, Holder and his troupe appeared in a concert billed as "The First Caribbean Carnival in London" held at the Royal Albert Hall, sponsored by entrepreneur Hugh Scotland. In January 1959, the Boscoe Holder dance troupe was a headline act, performing "Carnival Fantasia", at the "Caribbean Carnival" organised by Claudia Jones held in St Pancras Town Hall.

From 1959, for four years, Holder produced, choreographed and costumed the floorshow in the Candlelight Room of The May Fair hotel, where he also formed and led his own band, The Pinkerton Boys, He also danced in Nice, Monte Carlo, and Paris with Josephine Baker. On a visit to Trinidad in December 1960, Holder with his wife Sheila Clarke put on a show entitled At Home and Abroad at Queen's Hall in Port of Spain, performed by local dancers and featuring dances based on Brazilian, Haitian and Trinidadian folklore.

As well as dancing, during these years Holder continued to paint and his work was exhibited at various UK galleries, including the Trafford Gallery, the Redfern Gallery, the Commonwealth Institute, the Castle Museum Nottingham, the Martell exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture at the Royal Watercolour Society Galleries, and the Leicester Galleries.

Return to Trinidad and later years

After being based in London for 20 years, in 1970 Holder returned to Trinidad His work has been exhibited all over the Caribbean and elsewhere internationally. His paintings can be seen in collections throughout the world, preserving the West Indian culture. In 1981, a Holder painting was presented by the then President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Sir Ellis Clarke, as a wedding gift from the nation to Prince Charles and Lady Diana.

In 2006, the Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago and Gallery 101 exhibited 58 works by Holder, dated from 1991 to 2002.

Personal life

In 1948, Holder married the dancer Sheila Davis Clarke, daughter of radio personality Kathleen Davis (a.k.a. "Aunty Kay"), and their son Christian was born the following year. Christian Holder eventually became a leading dancer with the Joffrey Ballet and an artist in his own right.

Holder's younger brother was the actor Geoffrey Holder – perhaps best known for his role as the villain Baron Samedi in the 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die.

Death

Holder died at the age of 85 in 2007, at his home in Newtown, Port of Spain. He had suffered from prostate cancer, as well as complications from diabetes.

Awards and honours

In 1973, in recognition of Boscoe Holder's contribution to the Arts, the government of Trinidad and Tobago awarded him the Hummingbird Medal (gold) and named a street after him.

In 1978, the Venezuelan government presented him with the Francisco De Miranda award.

Then-Mayor of Washington DC declared 22 May 1983 as Boscoe Holder and Geoffrey Holder Day, in recognition of the brothers' contribution to the arts.

On 7 April 1991, Boscoe Holder, his son Christian, and brother Geoffrey received, in Philadelphia, the first Drexel University Award for International Excellence.

On 31 October 2003, Boscoe Holder was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters (DLitt) by the University of the West Indies.

Legacy

In December 2004, the government of Trinidad and Tobago issued an official Christmas series of postage stamps featuring six of Holder's paintings.

Holder's work was included in a 2010 exhibition in Berlin curated by Peter Doig and Hilton Als.

In October 2011, an exhibition of 50 of Holder's artworks was dedicated at the Upper Room Art Gallery at Top of the Mount, Mount Saint Benedict, St Augustine, Trinidad, as the Gallery's contribution to the United Nations proclaiming 2011 as the International Year for People of African Descent.

In 2012, Holder's former studio at 84 Woodford Street, Port of Spain, became the "101 Art Gallery at Holder's Studio", owned by Mark Pereira. It is now a "Heritage House", owned by the Bissessarsingh family.

In 2024, the Victoria Miro Gallery in London showed the joint exhibition Boscoe Holder | Geoffrey Holder, in which, according to *The Guardian*s reviewer, "radiant, sensual paintings of black men and women reflect just how far ahead of their time the Holder brothers were", and which was described by Nicole-Rachelle Moore as "full of magic that is both familiar and incredible". A new essay by Attillah Springer, "Vetiver and Turpentine", accompanied the show, and a limited edition fine art book by Christian Holder entitled Boscoe Holder: Travels in Rhythm, A life of Art and Dance was published by Rosenstiels. Interviewed about the exhibition, the first to present the Holder brothers' paintings in tandem, Christian Holder said: "For my father and uncle, their vision was inspired by all the artistic elements. Each element influenced the other. In that respect, there was no separation."

References

References

  1. Schwartz, Peggy, and Murray Schwartz (2011), [https://books.google.com/books?id=DbsxMmONyIsC&pg=PA117 ''The Dance Claimed Me: A Biography of Pearl Primus''], [[Yale University Press]], p. 117.
  2. [[Lloyd Bradley
  3. Holder, Christian. (1 June 2007). "Boscoe Holder".
  4. {{usurped
  5. Noel, Samantha. (11 May 2007). "Gallery pays tribute to Boscoe Holder". [[The Trinidad Guardian]].
  6. "Boscoe Holder chronology at The Upper Room Art Gallery website.".
  7. [[Raymond Ramcharitar]] (12 November 2003), [https://archive.today/20120710045135/http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/limers/message/136 "Boscoe, holder of one more award".]
  8. Rita Pemberton, Debbie McCollin, Gelien Matthews, Michael Toussaint, [https://books.google.com/books?id=huhPDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Amy+Leong+Pang%22&pg=PA174 "Holder, Boscoe Arthur Alwyn (1921–2007)"], ''Historical Dictionary of Trinidad and Tobago'' (New Edition), Rowman & Littlefield, 2018, pp. 173–4.
  9. and on his return to Trinidad, in 1948, he married Sheila Clarke, his leading dancer.Cowley, John (2 May 2007), [https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/may/02/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries "Boscoe Holder" (obituary)], ''The Guardian''.
  10. [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0390305/bio Geoffrey Holder biography] at IMDB.
  11. Dunning, Jennifer. (6 October 2014). "Geoffrey Holder, Dancer, Actor, Painter and More, Dies at 84". [[The New York Times]].
  12. John Cowley, [http://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/2945/1/LITP3.pdf "London is the Place: Caribbean Music in the Context of Empire 1900–60"], in [[Paul Oliver]] (ed.), ''Black Music In Britain: Essays on the Afro Asian Contribution to Popular Music'', Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1990, pp. 57–76.
  13. [http://www.christianholder.com/example1/boscoe.html Boscoe Holder biography] {{Webarchive. link. (14 May 2014 at christianholder.com.)
  14. The Emperor Jones]]'' (based on the [[Eugene O'Neill]] [[The Emperor Jones. play of the same title]]).[http://bufvc.ac.uk/screenplays/index.php/prog/1988 "The Emperor Jones"]. British Universities Film & Video Council.
  15. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160623164029/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8b0718c5 "The Emperor Jones (1953)"], BFI Film Forever.
  16. [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1664046/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm "The Emperor Jones (1953 TV Movie) {{!}} Full Cast & Crew"], IMDb.
  17. and in 1953 performed at the coronation of [[Queen Elizabeth II]], representing the [[West Indies]].[http://www.campbellsoflondon.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76:biography&catid=40:boscoe-mini-site&Itemid=80 Campbell's of London website.]
  18. Funk, Ray. (29 April 2014). "British Pathe offers historic Carnival, pan and calypso". Guardian Media.
  19. Funk, Ray (23 June 2015), [http://www.guardian.co.tt/lifestyle/2015-06-23/london%E2%80%99s-first-caribbean-carnival "London's first Caribbean Carnival?"], ''Trinidad and Tobago Guardian''. {{Webarchive. link. (14 July 2015 .)
  20. Funk, Ray, [http://caribbean-beat.com/issue-100/notting-hill-carnival-mas-and-mother-country#axzz3L5fDUoJW "Notting Hill Carnival: Mas and the mother country"], ''Caribbean Beat'', Issue 100 (November/December 2009).
  21. Sapphire]]'' (1959), and in television series such as ''[[Danger Man]]'' and ''[[The Saint (TV series). The Saint]]''.[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0390287/ "Boscoe Holder (1921–2007)"], IMDb.
  22. [http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/39b808457e164e12bf6af45c349f1d76 "Edmundo Ros"], BBC Television, 6 September 1967. Listing in ''[[Radio Times]]'', Issue 1764, 30 August 1957, p. 19.
  23. Mendez-Mendez, Serafin, Gail A. Cueto, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NLPrMMKmynwC&dq=josephine+baker+boscoe+holder&pg=PA215 "Boscoe Holder"], ''Notable Caribbeans and Caribbean Americans: A Biographical Dictionary'', Greenwood Press, 2003, pp. 214–16.
  24. [https://books.google.com/books?id=syeLAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22at+home+and+abroad%22+%22boscoe+holder%22&pg=PA227 "2 Dancing Dates in 2 Weeks"] (from ''Trinidad Guardian'', 11 December 1960), in Christopher Balme, Gordon Collier (eds), ''Derek Walcott: The Journeyman Years. Occasional Prose 1957–1974. Volume 2: Performing Arts '', Editions Rodopi, 2013, p. 227.
  25. Eniath, Aliyyah (2012), [http://www.caribbeanbelle.com/good-living/boscoe-holder.php "A Tribute To Boscoe Holder – Rare Glimpses Of His Life Through The Eyes Of His Beloved"]. Caribbean Belle. {{webarchive. link. (14 May 2014 .)
  26. Bolai, Richard (16 February 2006), [http://thebookmann.blogspot.co.uk/2006/02/curtain-closes-boscoe-holder.html "The Curtain Closes – Boscoe Holder"], thebookmann.
  27. [http://christianholder.com/ Christian Holder website.]
  28. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29505646 "Geoffrey Holder, Bond villain and dancer, dies aged 84"], BBC News, 6 October 2014.
  29. [http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sunday-mix/Boscoe_Holder-126470623.html "Boscoe Holder, The Life of the Late"], ''Sunday Express'' (Trinidad), 31 July 2011. {{Webarchive. link. (11 July 2015 .)
  30. Matroo, Carol. (27 April 2007). "Friends and family paint pretty picture – Fond farewell to Boscoe Holder". The Trinidad Guardian.
  31. [http://archives.newsday.co.tt/2007/04/24/no-funeral-for-boscoe-holder/ "No funeral for Boscoe Holder"], ''[[Trinidad and Tobago Newsday]]'', 24 April 2007. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  32. [http://tt.geoview.info/boscoe_hoider_street,194940755w "Boscoe Holder Street] is next to Barataria and is located in San Juan/Laventille, Trinidad and Tobago. Boscoe Holder Street has a length of 0.04 kilometres."
  33. [http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sunday-mix/Boscoe_Holder-126470623.html "Boscoe Holder, The Life of the Late"], ''Trinidad Express Newspapers'', 31 July 2011. {{Webarchive. link. (11 July 2015 .)
  34. Als, Hilton. (3 September 2010). "Discovering the Art of Boscoe Holder, Trinidadian Master".
  35. [[Nicholas Laughlin. Laughlin, Nicholas]] (6 September 2010), [http://nicholaslaughlin.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/whats-valid-boscoe-holder-artist.html "What's valid?"] (blog on Boscoe Holder).
  36. Christopher Harrity, [http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/art/2015/02/26/tbt-private-art-boscoe-holder "#TBT: The Private Art of Boscoe Holder"], Advocate.com, 26 February 2015.
  37. [http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sunday-mix/Discovering_The_Art_Of_Boscoe_Holder-131928693.html "Discovering the Art of Boscoe Holder"], ''Trinidad Express Newspapers'', 15 October 2011. {{Webarchive. link. (14 May 2014 .)
  38. {{usurped
  39. [https://www.facebook.com/101art/?locale=en_GB 101 Art Gallery @ Holder's Studio.]
  40. "Past Exhibition {{!}} The Art of the Caribbean: an exploration {{!}} Boscoe Holder".
  41. Fraser, Narissa. (19 February 2025). "Celebrated dancer, actor Christian Holder dies". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.
  42. Surtees, Joshua. (May 31, 2024). "'To represent blackness as beautiful was radical': the astonishing art – and lives – of the Holder brothers". [[The Guardian]].
  43. Lewis, Ben. (June 28, 2024). "Ballet dancer, Bond villain and bold painters: the art of the Trinidadian brothers best-known for their work on stage and screen".
  44. Moore, Nicole-Rachelle. (2024). "Reviews: Boscoe Holder {{!}} Geoffrey Holder".
  45. "Boscoe Holder {{!}} Geoffrey Holder".
  46. "Artist in Focus - Boscoe Holder". Rosenstiels.
  47. Rabb, Maxwell. (4 June 2024). "Brothers Boscoe and Geoffrey Holder Left Kindred Legacies in Painting and Performance".

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1921-births2007-deaths20th-century-male-artists20th-century-trinidad-and-tobago-painters21st-century-male-artists21st-century-trinidad-and-tobago-paintersalumni-of-queen's-royal-college,-trinidaddeaths-from-prostate-cancer-in-trinidad-and-tobagopeople-from-port-of-spainrecipients-of-the-hummingbird-medaltrinidad-and-tobago-choreographerstrinidad-and-tobago-dancerstrinidad-and-tobago-expatriates-in-the-united-kingdomtrinidad-and-tobago-musicianstrinidad-and-tobago-people-of-barbadian-descent