Skunder Bogossian

Skunder Boghossian is the best know African artist. His permanent collection short list includes: The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Musee d’Art Moderne, Paris; The Studio Museum in Harlem and the National Museum Of African Art, Washington. His formal training at the School of Paris influenced his skill but never touched his heart or imagination. Although he spent most of his adult life in America an only three years of that time in Ethiopia, he is the most Ethiopian of Ethiopian painters.


Skunder

The Three Most Influential Artists In Ethioia

Three decades ago, the art scene of Addis Ababa was dominated by the three maestros: Afewerk Tekle, Gebre Kristos Desta, and Skunder Boghossian, recipient of the Haile Selassie I fine arts award. Afewerk was important for his contribution as the first to introduce contemporary techniques to Ethiopian subject matter and content, Gebre Kristos for being responsible for introducing non-figurative art into Ethiopia and Skunder for trying to give the linear-graphic ancient Ethiopian art a new image. All three were European-educated, which was typical at that time. Many others did not achieve that status in imperial Ethiopia, and even today are not honored and recognized by their compatriots, as they should be,
Ethiopianartists

The first Ethiopian Abstract expressionist

Gebre Kristos paintings are remarkable not only for their technical and formal achievements but also for their symbolic power and psychological insight. He observed and commented upon the political strife of Ethiopians in a symbolically expressionistic way. His works can sometimes be very sophisticated for the general viewer, but even as such, they are a feast for the eyes, and are easier to digest and enjoy than some of the more complicated, distorted, and awkward compositions of other artists of his generation.


Gebre Kirstos Desta

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Mursi People and Their Body Arts

The Mursi people live in Ethiopia near the border of Sudan. They are found by the British anthropologist around 1972. they are known by their body piercing and decoration to make themselves more beautiful and get married. They believe that if as their lip-plate and ear-plat go wider and wider , they are going to be selected by their spouse to be more beautiful than others. So, they get more bride-price than the others. Therefore, Mursi girls spend most of their time by piercing and widening their lips and ears. They put plates made of clay in the pierced part of their lip and ears so that their lips and ear enlarge. Even tough this kind of cultural deed is so hard and health threatening, they are still exercising to aesthetic beauty in their life. This is the best and the most acceptable kind of art in their culture. it is known that the perception of arts change over time through many factors. This condition works in Mursi art of body decoration. The starting of body piercing in Mursi people was not intended to bring beauties for the women but to be seen ugly in their enemies. Since they were so minority in number that their neighbouring tribes used to attack and forced them to slavery. So, body piercing and decoration was their cultural tactic to defend themselves from their enemies . But now , it transformed from defence mechanism to the best art that helps women earn more bride-price in their culture.



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