Feb 19, 2008 - Sale 2136

Sale 2136 - Lot 189

Price Realized: $ 19,200
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 20,000 - $ 30,000
ALEXANDER SKUNDER BOGHOSSIAN (1937 - 2003)
The Bark of the Hanging Three.

Acrylic on bark-cloth, 1977. 1015x760 mm; 40x30 inches. Signed in arcylic, lower left recto. Signed, titled, inscribed "D.C." and dated in red ink, verso.

Provenance: the artist to Travers J. Bell, Jr., New York; thence by descent to the current owner.

Boghossian is considered one of the greatest Ethiopian artists, and one of Africa's best known contemporary artists. His paintings reflect a deep and strong foundation in the ancient culture and symbolism of his homeland. In 1955, he received an Ethiopian Government scholarship to study in Europe, where he studied at Saint Martins School, Central School, and the Slade School of Fine Arts, London. In 1957, Boghossian moved to France, where he attended and taught at the Ecole National Superiore des Beaux Artes de Paris, and the Academie de la Grande Chumiere, Paris. Boghossian returned to Ethiopia, in 1966, and for the next three years taught at the Fine Arts School of Addis Ababa where he left a lasting impact on a generation of younger Ethiopian artists in spite of his short stay.

Boghossian was influenced by a broad range of international and black cultures - he embraced both the "Pan-African" and universal movements. He is the first Ethiopian artist to have works acquired by the Musee d'Art Modem in Paris in 1963, and the Museum of Modem Art in New York in 1965, and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art in 1992. He was an Associate Professor of Painting at Howard University in Washington, DC, beginning in 1974.