Among the many international students who attended the University of Fine Arts Hamburg (HFBK), Monique Cécile Angèle Celcis remains a somewhat obscure figure. According to university records, she was born in Haiti on September 5, 1937, and studied in the metal workshop during the Winter Semester of 1957/1958 under Professor Wolfgang Tümpel who was the head of the metal workshop from 1951-1968. Otherwise it remains difficult to find explicit records about her artistic trajectory. Did she continue as a practicing artist, or did she pursue other fields?
A potential clue about her background appears in an issue of Haiti Sun from October 29, 1950, which I found in the online archive of the University of Florida Digital Collections.1 The entry mentions a “pretty Monique Celcis” returning from a trip to Puerto Rico. Assuming the same Monique Celcis is reported on, it suggests that she came from a family involved in public and political life. Her mother, Diane Celcis, is noted in the newspaper as an active member of the Ligue Féminine, a Haitian women’s organization that played a crucial role in advocating for women’s rights. In 1957, Diane Celcis is said to have traveled alone to Istanbul as a representative of Haitian women at the International Congress of Women.
“Pretty Monique Celcis, daughter of Mr and Mrs Albert (Electric Light Co) Celics returned this week from a vacation in Puerto Rico. Monique will pinch-hit for mother Diane who is actually in Istamboul as a one-woman delegation to the International Congress of Woman (37 countries are represented) and making history for the Ligue Feminine and Haitian Woman.”2
It is not completely unlikely to make a conection beween said Diane Celcis and Monique Cécile Angèle Celcis as it wouldn’t have been the conventional path of a young woman from Haiti to go and study at an art academy abroad. Yet this has to remain speculation. So while Monique Celcis’ time at HFBK is documented, further research may yet uncover more about her work and life. For now, she stands as one of the many international students whose artistic contributions remain elusive.
This article was published in February 2025