Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

Lot 14W

Alexander Skunder Boghossian
(Ethiopian, 1937-2003)
Blue Composition

2 May 2019, 14:00 EDT
New York

Sold for US$175,075 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our African Modern & Contemporary Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

Alexander Skunder Boghossian (Ethiopian, 1937-2003)

Blue Composition
signed in Amharic (lower right)
acrylic, gouache and air brush on panel in artist's frame
119.4 x 184.2cm (47 x 72 1/2in).

Footnotes

Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist in Ethiopia in the late 1960s;
Private Collection, USA.

Alexander Skunder Boghossian was the first contemporary African artist to have a work acquired by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. His career as an artist started in Ethiopia, where he won second prize at the Jubilee Anniversary Celebration of Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie I in 1954. Following this Skunder traveled to London on a scholarship to study at the prestigious St. Martins School and Central School of Art. He then taught at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris, returning to Ethiopia in 1966. It was during this short period in Ethiopia that he completed this particular Blue Composition . After a short stay at the School of Fine Arts in Addis Ababa, Skunder made the permanent move to the United States in 1972 where he taught at Howard University in Washington D.C. between 1972-2001.

Bibliography
E. Harney, Ethiopian Passages: Contemporary Art from the Diaspora, (New York, 2003)

Additional information

Bid now on these items

Bertina Lopes(Mozambican, 1924-2012)"Respiro" (Breath)

Bertina Lopes(Mozambican, 1924-2012)"Jazz una forma di musica classica contemporanea che riflette il cosmo prospettico dell'Africa II (da una frase di Harolds Bradley)" (Jazz is a form of contemporary classical music that reflects the cosmos African II perspective (from a phrase by Harold Bradley))

Bertina Lopes(Mozambican, 1924-2012)"Il sole la vita" (The Sun, Life)

Bertina Lopes(Mozambican, 1924-2012)"Ipotese dello continuo" (I'm a fan of the continuous)

Willem Boshoff(South African, born 1951)Neves I & II

Karen Jarosynzka(South African 1934-2014)Quasimodo

Rom Isichei(Nigerian, born 1966)Conversation with my Alter Ego

Anton Karstel(South African, born 1968)Portrait of Ian van Biljoen

Anton Karstel(South African, born 1968)Adderley St

Greg Marinovich(South African, born 1962)

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela(South African, 1918-2013)Left hand

Sophie Mowat(British, born 1988)The Other Bounty

Christine Dixie(South African, born 1966)Hide (To withhold or withdraw from sight)

Glory Samjolly(British, born 1997)Dear Archives

Walter Whall Battiss(South African, 1906-1982)Three Fook Stamps

Alison Turner(British, born 1976)At The Hands Of The Enslaved, Our Society Was Built

Stuart Bird(South African, born 1977)Zuma Biscuits 2 x 5 x 7cm (13/16 x 1 15/16 x 2 3/4in). (each) (4)

Neequaye Dreph Dsane(British, born 1973)Dress Code

Gail Deborah Catlin(South African, born 1948)Female nude

Kione Grandison(British, born 1996)Let Us Not Forget

Norman Clive Catherine(South African, born 1949)Fook Dog

Alvin Kofi(British, born 1961)The Longitude Of Culture

Guy du Toit(South African, born 1958)Little Deaths

Kazvare Knox(Zimbabwean, born 1986)Someone's Been Stealing Our Things