Llewellyn Xavier receives a Knighthood

Llewellyn Xavier receives a Knighthood

Excerpts from Tony Nicholas of the St. Lucia Times article - Saint Lucia’s Preeminent Visual Artist Knighted

Renowned Saint Lucian artist Llewellyn Xavier was knighted during an Investiture Ceremony at Windsor Castle in England on Wednesday. He received the prestigious title of Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the arts and national development in Saint Lucia.
 

In his artist statement on his website Llewellyn Xavier describes his early years as he left monastic life and rediscovered art.

After a year of what was possibly the most miserable and unhappy time of my life, I went out of the Monastery for a month of discernment, a period in which would-be monks go back into the world to discern whether monasticism is their true calling. The Archbishop and I hired a luxury yacht and sailed the Southern Caribbean before returning to the Monastery. Soon after I returned, I got up one morning, packed my very small suitcase, took a taxi to the airport, and left without saying a word to anyone. I went to England, got married to Christina, and resumed my career as an Artist. A career that started with me painting what is unquestionably the most awful “Airport Art” imaginable, was followed by a series of collaborations with John Lennon, James Baldwin and the infamous Jean Genet. My greatest ambition at that time was not to be a successful artist, but to shock Genet; I almost succeeded!

Llewelyn Xavier artistic journey later took him to England, where he became a pioneer in mail art, and then to the United States, where he studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. After a sabbatical as a Cistercian monk in Montreal, Canada, he returned to Saint Lucia in 1987 to further his artistic mission.

According to Wikipedia possibly one of Xavier's most important works to date is a large cycle of collages created around 1993. Titled Global Council for Restoration of the Earth's Environment, it was first shown at the Patrick Cramer Gallery in Geneva in May of that year. The collages incorporate all manner of recycled materials, including naturalist prints from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and postage stamps from many countries. They also include signatures of various world leaders of environmentalism and of a number of conservationists.

His art is held in the permanent collections of prestigious institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the American Museum of Natural History.

June 2025