Toledo Museum to Celebrate ‘Ethiopia at a Crossroads’ – BG Independent News

FROM THE TOLEDO ART MUSEUM

Travel through 1,750 years of Ethiopian artistic traditions and explore the nation’s rich history, cultural heritage, and global influence in “Ethiopia at the Crossroads,” on view August 17 through November 10 at the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA). The first of its kind in the United States in nearly five decades, this exhibition features 220 works that place Ethiopian art in a global context, highlighting the nation’s influence, which reached east across the Arabian Sea and extended north across the Red Sea, the Nile, and the Mediterranean. As a bridge between Africa, Europe, and Asia, Ethiopia’s footprint is vast, and the range of its artistic and religious influences remains today.

“‘Ethiopia at the Crossroads’ invites visitors to immerse themselves in the beauty and art that has permeated Ethiopia for centuries and permeated other parts of the world,” said Adam Levine, TMA Edward Drummond and Florence Scott Libbey Director and CEO. “The works on display explore the often overlooked cultural significance of Ethiopia and speak to the many current artistic and religious practices of the only African nation never colonized. TMA looks forward to presenting this exhibition, which pays tribute to Ethiopia’s historical influence and vibrant present.”

The TMA combines over a thousand years of painted religious icons, manuscripts, coins, textiles, metalwork, and carved wooden crosses with contemporary works that reflect the evolution of Ethiopian craftsmanship. Among the works are recent acquisitions of Ethiopian art from the Middle Ages to the present, including an important Ethiopian icon dating from around 1500. The exterior of the icon depicts a vivid image of Saints Anne and Joachim, parents of the Virgin Mary. Inside, a posthumous royal portrait of the Ethiopian King Lalibela and his wife Masqal Kibra appears opposite a depiction of Saint Mercury on horseback. Such icons were an integral part of Christian liturgy in Ethiopia.

Other religious works show the influences that flowed between Ethiopian artists and Italian artists who came to the Ethiopian court in the 15th century. These groups shared painting styles, palettes, and materials. Our Lady with Her Beloved Son and the Archangels Michael and Gabriel by Fre Seyon (active 1445–80) depicts the Virgin and Christ in a traditional Italian pose, flanked by the archangels Michael and Gabriel, who often appear together in Ethiopian paintings. These figures also wear robes with Ethiopian patterns. Niccolò Brancaleon (Italian, active 1480–1521) worked at the Ethiopian imperial court at the same time as Fre Seyon and combines Italian artistic practices with Ethiopian techniques in Right Half of a Diptych with the Virgin and Child (c. 1500). The Venetian monk uses a four-colour palette common in Ethiopian icons, with the layering of shading characteristic of Italian Renaissance works.

“‘Ethiopia at a Crossroads’ highlights the longevity of global exchange, showcasing the sharing of ideas and artistic practices within Ethiopia and the communities with which it has interacted,” said Sophie Ong, coordinating curator and TMA Brian P. Kennedy Fellow. “While three-quarters of the art in the exhibition comes from Ethiopia, the rest relates to neighboring cultures with which it has historically been associated, including the Roman Empire, Coptic Egypt, and Byzantium, to name a few. TMA will present for the first time two extraordinary recent acquisitions that complement and provide context for the Ethiopian artworks in the exhibition—a fourth-century BCE alabaster ‘Figure of a Man’ from South Arabia (modern Yemen) and one of the most distinguished Armenian manuscripts known today, the sixteenth-century Gospel Book illuminated by Hakob Jughayets’i.”

Ge’ez works emphasize Ethiopia’s connection to the southern Arabian Peninsula via the Red Sea. The classical Ethiopian written language based on the South Arabian script, demonstrated by the South Arabian alabaster TMA, appears in painted icons exhibited alongside Wosene Worke Kosrof’s “Wax and Gold X.” The contemporary artist uses the Ge’ez alphabet and the Amharic language, which is derived from Ge’ez, as the basis for his abstract composition.

The evolution of the nation is represented by the robe of Haile Selassie I (1892-1975), the last emperor of Ethiopia (1903-1974), who is worshipped as a deity in Rastafarianism. Many consider him to be the Second Coming of Jesus and Jah in human form, and the religion is named for Selassie’s pre-royal title, “Ras Tafari Makonnen.” Gold and sequins adorn the black velvet robe and honor the emperor who took steps to modernize the country through political and social reforms. Just a year into his reign, he introduced the country’s first written constitution. “Ethiopia at a Crossroads” marks the robe’s debut at the museum.

Helina Metaferia models her work on the headdresses worn by Ethiopian empresses and expresses the American struggle for civil rights in “Headdress 6” (2019) and “Headdress 23” (2021). Both works depict African American women wearing headdresses composed of images from the Civil Rights Movement, including Black Panther newspaper images. Metaferia is the child of Ethiopian immigrants and was born in Washington, D.C.

“The End of the Beginning” (1972-1973) by Alexander “Skunder” Boghossian depicts Lalibela and Axum, two historic sites in Ethiopia that were destroyed by fire. While the white bird stands as a witness and survivor of the destruction, the ghostly figure represents the past that seeks to escape the horrors of the present. Boghossian was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, studied in Europe, and came to the United States in 1970. After returning to Ethiopia in 1972, Boghossian remained in the United States after the 1974 Ethiopian revolution prevented his return.

Theo Eshetu’s “Brave New World II” is one of a handful of contemporary works to bring a digital component to the exhibition. The multimedia and video installation takes viewers on a journey around the world, featuring footage of John F. Kennedy International Airport and the Statue of Liberty in New York, an Ethiopian Orthodox celebration of the Epiphany, an Italian insurance ad, and dancers in Bali. Using a mirrored box, the artist ensures that the images take the form of a globe. Eshetu, who was born in London to Ethiopian-Dutch parents and raised in Senegal, uses the work to show how technology has connected people and changed the way everyone experiences the world. The work is named after Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel, set in a future where technology has a major impact on society.

“Visitors to ‘Ethiopia at the Crossroads’ will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the country—the place and its culture,” Ong said. “The exhibition celebrates historical artists and objects and their influence on contemporary artists from Ethiopia and the diaspora, who are, excitingly, becoming increasingly visible internationally. Through an exploration of Ethiopian artistic practice and exchange from antiquity to the present, it becomes clear that many of the country’s centuries-old traditions remain vibrant and influential today.”

“Ethiopia at the Crossroads” is co-organized by the Walters Art Museum (Baltimore), the Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, Massachusetts), and the Toledo Museum of Art (Toledo, Ohio). The exhibition is curated by Christine Sciacca, Ph.D., Curator of European Art, 300-1400 CE, Walters Art Museum. Curatorial coordinators are Sophie Ong, Toledo Museum of Art, and Karen Kramer, Stuart W. and Elizabeth F. Pratt Curator of Native American and Oceanian Art and Culture, Peabody Essex Museum. The works on display include Ethiopian art from the organizers’ world-renowned collections as well as loans from American, Ethiopian, and European lenders. An illustrated catalog published by the Walters Art Museum will accompany the exhibition.

Psalter with Praise of Mary (Wəddase Maryam) and Songs of the Prophets, c. 1400-1500, ink and pigments on parchment with wooden boards, open: 8 7/8 × 6 11/16 × 3 15/16 in. Ethiopia, Africa. Mrs. George W. Stevens Fund.

Elias Sime (Ethiopian, born 1968), “Tightrope, Zooming In,” 2012, recovered electronic components and various small objects on panel, 83 1/2 × 313 in., Toledo Museum of Art, acquired with funds provided by Florence Scott Libbey as part of a bequest in memory of her father, Maurice A. Scott.