Contemporary Ethiopian painting in traditional style: from church-based to tourist art.

In this paper, I will explore how traditional church painting changed in the urban context of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, which was founded in 1886. These changes included how artists were educated, how paintings were marketed and sold, who bought them, and how they functioned. The style, technique, and iconography of paintings changed markedly as well. As a consequence of all of these changes, a new category of painting came into being which I have labeled "contemporary painting in traditional style" (Biasio 1993). As a general rule, art historians term this genre "secular painting" (Pankhurst 1966), "folk painting" (Girma Fisseha and Raunig 1985), "traditional painting" (Ricci 1989), or "popular painting" (Girma Fisseha and Raunig 1993). I have shown elsewhere that these expressions can be misinterpreted or are, to a certain extent, incorrect (Biasio 1993). When categorizing artistic genres, we should always take into consideration a variety of criteria, including the training of the artist, style, technique, iconography, function, and not least, the art consumers themselves.

I define "folk painting" as work produced by local artists for local indigenous consumption. In Ethiopia, this would include magic scrolls or icons commissioned by a farmer from a community-based, often poorly trained artist. "Traditional elite painting" was produced on commission, often from a ruler, by the very best artists. Folk painting and traditional elite painting are art forms grounded in local communities. They fulfill indigenous functions, are produced by artists with a traditional, often church-based training, and are intended for local consumption. Both terms can refer to wall paintings for churches, icons, illuminated manuscripts, and magic scrolls. In Ethiopia, these art forms must always be understood in a religious context. Even if a painting has a secular theme, if it appears in a church, it should be considered religious due to its function.

The term "popular painting" should be used to refer to art that developed in urban settings, often created by self-taught artists and directed towards the local population. This category includes, for instance, hand-painted signs on trucks and buses or advertising for hairdressers or other businesses. These are found in West Africa, particularly in Ghana as Doran Ross has explored in several contributions to this journal (for example Ross 2004), but rarely in Ethiopia, with the exception of restaurants, tej baitotch (honey-wine bars), and butcher shops (see Sher 1997, Mesfin Habtemariam 2007).

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CHURCH-BASED PAINTING

Since its Christianization in the fourth century, Ethiopia has followed a tradition of Christian religious painting. Emperors, kings, feudal lords, and high-ranking clerics were the main patrons of painters who worked independently or in monastery scriptoria writing and illuminating manuscripts, painting icons, and decorating churches with paintings. The development of Christian art reflects the internal development of the country as well as its contacts with both the Eastern and Western Christian worlds, and with Islamic and Indian traditions. The urban context of Addis Ababa created significant changes in the tradition of Ethiopian Orthodox painting and the emergence of the new category of painting that is the focus of this article.

The King of Shewa and later Emperor of Ethiopia, Menelik II (r. 1889-1909), (1) laid the foundation stone of the new capital, Addis Ababa, in 1886. Like his predecessors, he and his wife, Empress Taytu, built churches and donated churches and paintings, (2) and the new capital became a center of production for numerous painters. As Pankhurst (1966:18f.) mentions, many painters bore the title of Aleqa, which was conferred upon a priest or a debtera (3) who had reached a high level of education, or upon the head of a church or a monastery. Many of these painters came from Gojjam, a region in northern Ethiopia, very often from the monastery of Dima Giyorgis or the village Bichena Giyorgis. It is very difficult to identify painters because the artists usually did not sign their works. As their aim was to glorify God, signatures were considered immodest, and most painters were so well known in their communities that people would have known their work even without a signature. This practice was commonplace for traditional artists who had attended a church school and were trained by a painter-priest; however, painters began signing their work as they shifted to producing for the tourist art market. The influx of foreign visitors to Ethiopia during the reign of Menelik II also gave rise to two new themes, both of which are still depicted in paintings today: the visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon (Fig. 1) and the Battle of Adowa in 1896 (Fig. 2).

According to written and oral legends from the Christian highlands, the Queen of Sheba came from Ethiopia. After visiting Solomon, she became pregnant and bore a son, Menelik I. When grown, he visited his father, who crowned him King of Ethiopia. On returning home, Menelik, together with the firstborn sons of the elders of Jerusalem, abducted the Ark of the Covenant, which is said to still be housed in the Church of Maryam Tsion in Aksum. Although this legend served as the legitimization of the Ethiopian royal dynasties and was of great importance in the Kebra Negast, (4) no depiction of it is known until the reign of Menelik II. Staude (1957:15) supposes that the reign of Menelik II reactivated the memory of the dynasty's founder and propagated this theme. Travelers mentioned a painting in the church of Entoto Maryam, which has since disappeared, of Menelik I and the Queen of Sheba, who bore a striking resemblance to Menelik II and Taytu (see, for example, Vivian 1901:281, cited in Pankhurst 1966:17; see also ibid., pp. 19f.).

Representations of the Battle of Adowa glorified the royal house, as Menelik II defeated the Italians and secured Ethiopia's independence from European colonization. After the battle, this theme was depicted in numerous churches. One of the most important representations was in Giyorgis church in Addis Ababa, built in memory of the battle and in honor of Saint George, who was thought to have supported the Ethiopians. This painting, by Aleqa Herui of the monastery of Dima Giyorgis in Gojjam, unfortunately fell prey to a fire during the fascist occupation in 1937. Further representation of the battle was located in the Maryam church built by Menelik II at the foot of Mt. Menagesha to the west of Addis Ababa. The painting was photographed in 1907 or 1908 by the Austrian aristocrat Friedrich yon Kulmer and is described comprehensively by Pankhurst (1989:83f., Fig. 133).

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CONTEMPORARY PAINTING IN TRADITIONAL STYLE

Because of the modernization processes promoted by Menelik II, visitors to the imperial court increased, and foreigners and legations began to settle in the capital. This caused a rise in demand for Ethiopian souvenirs, and church painters started to produce paintings for this new clientele as well. For the first time, paintings became available in larger quantities outside a church context and often featured solely secular themes. (5)

Historically, Ethiopian painters were compensated with so-called gult-rights, i.e. the rights of land use awarded for their services (Haile Gabriel Dagne 1989:215). One of the few documented examples is the Venetian painter Nicolo Brancaleon, who lived in Ethiopia from approximately 1480 to 1520 (Chojnacki 1983:379). If a ruler or a feudal lord made generous donations of paintings to a church or a monastery, he received spiritual and sometimes political support. Even in the twentieth century, artists used to give paintings as New Year's gifts to the aristocracy, for which they received a present in return. (6) This custom of gift exchange also included foreigners of high social standing, as is demonstrated by a portrait of Fritz Weiss, the German ambassador to Ethiopia from 1921-28. The caption shows the work to be a New Year's gift (Girma Fisseha and Raunig 1985:147f., Fig. 22).

Rulers and nobles also exchanged pictures ceremonially on the occasion of state visits by foreign rulers or envoys. An old, unattributed engraving reproduced in the Addis Reporter (1969) depicts King Sahle Selassie, thunder of the Kingdom of Shewa (r. 1813-47), surrounded by gifts from King Louis Philippe of France, among them a large framed painting that probably depicts the French king himself. One may assume that Sahle Selassie reciprocated with presents to King Louis Philippe, including paintings. Paintings sometimes were also given as ceremonial gifts from a ruler to travelers. Emperor Yohannes IV (r. 1872-89) presented Gerhard Rohlfs with, among other things, a large canvas of the Battle of Guddaguddi (Rohlfs 1883:fig. between pages 56/57). The Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich possesses a painting of The Fraternization of the Animals (Biasio 2006:81), among the presents given by Emperor Haile Selassie to a Swiss mission that traveled to Ethiopia in the 1930s to offer the emperor military assistance against the Italians. (7)

Besides gift exchange, by the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries foreigners also acquired artwork directly from the painters themselves (Pankhurst 1966:20-29). Unfortunately, travel accounts contain little data on how particular paintings came to be in the possession of particular authors. Henry Salt, for instance, employed the chief painter of Ras (8) Wolde Selassie of Tigrai (r. 1788-1816) "to paint him one of his best pictures" (Salt 1967:394). However, we do not learn how the painter was rewarded, although he was likely paid with Maria Theresa thalers, the coin of the region at that time.

These examples show how traditional paintings were exchanged according to redistributive mechanisms and considered as ceremonial gifts to foreigners integrated into this traditional system. Later, art circulated according to the capitalist market system with its typical features of metal currency, the prestige attached to the possession of money, and consumption (Harris 1983:76). With this change and with the emergence of foreigners as art consumers, traditional painting was fundamentally altered and, as I have argued above, it is no longer adequate to talk about traditional painting, folk painting, or traditional elite painting, but about contemporary painting in traditional style (Biasio 1993).

Furthermore, while church paintings represent holy events as a means of teaching the laity and as propaganda for social institutions (Biasio 1994), the paintings bought by expatriates and tourists fulfill other functions. For both sets of consumers, such artwork can evoke a feeling of nostalgia for an idyllic, heroic past, untouched by Western civilization, or serve as a souvenir onto which they can project their memories of time spent living or traveling abroad.

Another change also occurred in the second half of the nineteenth century. While in earlier times painters manufactured their paints themselves out of plants and other natural materials, now synthetic paints began to be imported. This facilitated not only the production of large paintings for churches but also mass production (Chojnacki 1978:71). In the first thirty years of the twentieth century, the style of contemporary painting in traditional style did not deviate fundamentally from that of traditional painting of that time.

However, as late as at the beginning of the twentieth century, painters were rather reluctant to sell paintings to foreigners. Conrad Keller states:

   The monasteries do not work to order and the painters show great
   reserve for fear of complaints by the Emperor, which occur when an
   important work is disposed of privately rather than being offered
   to a church or the imperial court. For this reason it is extremely
   difficult to acquire good paintings in Abyssinia (1904:33).

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This attitude suggests that rulers tended to claim exclusive right over the production and consumption of paintings. Pankhurst cites Europeans who complained up until the early 1930s that paintings could not be found on the market, but could only be acquired through good relationships with artists (1966:39), i.e., bought directly from the painters. Subsequently, the artists learned what foreigners wanted and foreigners were able to commission works that suited their tastes. In this way, the European traveler Kurt Lubinski described how he met the artist Belatchew Yimer and had him paint his portrait (Girma Fisseha and Raunig 1985:21-z4).

It is important to mention at least a few of the painters working for foreigners in the first decades of the twentieth century, as they were responsible for the shift to contemporary paintings in traditional style. In 1986, Solomon Belatchew told me that his father Belatchew Yimer was the first to have painted the famous legend of the Queen of Sheba in forty-four scenes for the American Legation (Fig. 1). He later produced other themes, such as the Battle of Adowa and scenes of hunting and everyday life. According to Pankhurst, Belatchew (or he and his friend Tasew Habte Wold) was the initiator of the type of painting Pankhurst termed tourist art (1966:39) but which I would call contemporary painting in traditional style.

Two other artists who were active in the 1920s include Wolde Mikael (9) (Fig. 3) and Behailu Gebre Maryam. The engineer M.E.W. Molly, Director-General of Mines in Ethiopia, knew the latter painter personally and ordered several paintings from him, which he brought to Eugene Pittard, then director of the Ethnographic Museum of Geneva. According to Pittard, Behailu came from Tigrai but had learned to paint in Gondar. He worked on a commission basis when his patrons requested a certain theme, or he painted according to his own inspiration. He also kept on hand a series of different subjects that he reproduced as long as they could be sold. The copied pictures, however, were not identical (Pittard 1928-31:87f.).

THE PROCESS OF COMMERCIALIZATION

When the demand for paintings increased, many artists started to produce paintings assembly-line fashion in artists' workshops, and untalented autodidacts, too, tried their luck, so that a loss in quality was inevitable. In the 1920s, Behailu Gebre Maryam's workshop employed two or three apprentices who were confined to copying the works of their master. Such smaller workshops were not new, however. Traditional church painters also employed apprentices, often their own sons or relatives; one may assume that these workshops practiced a certain degree of work sharing. During the Italian occupation (1936-1941) demand for paintings increased and the Georgian Djougashvilli, who called himself Prince Amiradjibi, founded a large workshop where a dozen or so painters worked for a monthly wage. Of these, the most accomplished artists, such as Shimeles Hapte Yimer or Tasew Habte Wold, received the highest salary. Other painters employed in this establishment were Yohannes Tesemma, Belatchew Yimer, Yitbarek Haile Maryam, Berhanu Yemenu, and Gebre Hiwot (Pankhurst 1966:39).

The Empress Menen Handicraft School played a decisive role in the commercialization process, in which workshops produced large numbers of paintings in series that were sold by various outlets and middlemen. Founded in 1930 or 1931, the school was closed under Italian occupation, but later moved into larger premises. A major concern of the school was to uphold and promote the so-called traditional arts. The school operated a museum and a shop whose clients were mainly expatriate residents and tourists (Anon. 1957:80-84). It also supplied souvenir shops with paintings and had its own painting workshop. (10) Its teachers included academy-trained personnel, such as Daniel Twafe, (11) as well as painters taught in the traditional apprenticeship system, such as Yohannes Tesemma. Others were loosely associated with the school, as they also sold their work privately. According to W.C. Guder, who taught at the school's joinery workshop between 1955 and 1971, the students copied the paintings created by their teachers; the favorite theme was the legend of the Queen of Sheba (Girma Fisseha and Raunig 1985:21). Solomon Belatchew, who worked at the Handicraft School in the 1960s, said that he sketched scenes, while less talented painters and apprentices applied the paints. Because teachers signed the works of their disciples, the signature alone no longer guaranteed that the painting was an "original" and some painters did not sign their works at all. Therefore, I would argue that it is perhaps more appropriate to attribute the paintings created in such workshops to "schools" rather than to individual artists. In the collection of the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich, many paintings are not signed, and even Wondimu Wende, Alemu Haile Maryam, and Berhanu Yemenu, all of whom I interviewed in 1986, said that they did not sign all their paintings, although Qengeta Jembere Hailu did, as does Qes Adamu Tesfaw, who is still actively producing.

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It was not until the 1940s that a considerable commercial trade in paintings developed. Paintings were not only offered in Mercato, Addis Ababa's large market, and in souvenir shops, but also in galleries. For instance, the Belvedere Art Gallery, founded in 1963, sold small paintings on parchment, many produced by the priest and former church painter Qes Legesse (Fig. 4). After the establishment of a significant commercial market, it became increasingly difficult for foreigners to acquire artwork directly from painters and thus collect intbrmation on artists. Merchants did not reveal where artists lived for fear of losing their customers and their profit, a practice that continues to this day. For instance, Anneliese and Rolf Jahrling, who lived in Addis Ababa from 1968 to 1972, told me that they had acquired their collection of paintings from hawkers in Mercato. (12) When the Jahrlings expressed a wish to meet the artists, dealers refused to divulge their whereabouts. When they insisted on meeting Solomon Tena, whose art they particularly appreciated, the dealer finally introduced a gentleman to them, although the couple had their doubts about his identity. Mercier, too, had a similar experience when he sought paintings by the artist Qanna Sambata in 1975 (1993:38). When I was in Addis Ababa in 1986, souvenir shop owner Solomon Belatchew was the only dealer who was willing to introduce me to the artists.

This process of commercialization accelerated through the 1950s to the early 1970s, a time of booming tourism. The era was typified by carelessly produced canvas paintings featuring stereotyped and simplified figures, such as the innumerable paintings depicting the legend of the Queen of Sheba (Fig. 9).

FROM CANVAS TO PARCHMENT

A further characteristic of commercialization is the rising demand for paintings on parchment, which began in the 1940s. In 1978, during the Derg regime, the Empress Menen Handicraft School took the name Handicrafts of Ethiopia, the marketing division of the Handicrafts and Small-Scale Industries Development Agency of the Government of Ethiopia (HASIDA). In 1989, the name changed again to Ethiopian Handicraft Center. According to a 1984 export price list, the paintings offered for sale included religious and secular designs on parchment in wooden frames (20cm x 25cm), parchment scrolls with scenes of everyday life (32cm x l00cm), the story of the Queen of Sheba on parchment (52cm x 100cm), small paintings on parchment (15cm x 20cm and 15cm x 18cm), and triptychs with various religious representations on stone or wood. We see here, then, the introduction of new materials, e.g., stone and parchment, onto which images were painted. Thus, the innovations described by Sobania and Silverman (this issue) have precursors in the innovations made by individual artists, entrepreneurs, and even government workshops from the late nineteenth century to the present day. The Ethiopian Handicraft Center did not operate a large painting workshop. Rather, artists worked on a commission basis for the institution. Thus, the institution did not incur the risk of producing more paintings than it could sell and avoided paying salaries to artists.

In the early 1970s, the Ethiopian Tourist Trading Corporation (ETTC) was founded; since December 1992, it has been called the Ethiopian Tourist Trading Enterprise (ETTE). Originally located on the premises of Bole Airport, where the corporation operated a large shop, the ETTE produced paintings and other handicrafts. Notably, the painting workshop employed deaf-mute artists who had graduated from what was then the Fine Arts School (FAS), founded in the late 1950s. (13) Among the most gifted painters was Afewerq Mengesha (b. 1944) who created sketch outlines that others colored (Fig. 5). ETTE artists produced large paintings on canvas, copies of religious wood panel paintings, and works on parchment depicting historical events or scenes of everyday life. They also produced paintings on hide in its natural shape, usually depicting the Battle of Adowa or the legend of the Queen of Sheba, and hide lampshades painted with crosses, religious subjects, or scenes from the legend of the Queen of Sheba. ETTE supplied the airport gift shop and souvenir shops in the capital. More importantly, however, it was involved in decorating new hotels, both government and private. The Ethiopian Handicraft Center and ETTE also sold paintings to the tourist market. Tourists seemed to prefer paintings on parchment as souvenirs, likely because they are reminiscent of precious manuscripts and possess that ethnic touch which foreign visitors appreciate. This remains the case today, as any visitor to a tourist shop can recognize.

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CONTEMPORARY PAINTING IN TRADITIONAL STYLE DURING THE MENGISTU PERIOD (1974-1991)

Painters benefited from the tourist boom that began in the 1950s and peaked in the 1960s. However, they no longer received state-commissioned orders for artwork due to competition from painters trained at the FAS, as the latter were given preference in government and private commissions because they were perceived as higher quality due to their academic training. In addition, after the 1974 revolution, few tourists visited Ethiopia and traditional painters lost their private customers as well. In 1986, Solomon Belatchew commented that he rarely painted traditional paintings, because demand had stopped. He instead copied onto parchment photographic postcards produced by the ETTC, as those could be sold more easily. At that time, his son Gebre Kristos Solomon, who was taught by his father before enrolling in the two-year evening course at the FAS in the mid 1980S, no longer painted large canvases. He produced framed paintings on parchment, which were sold on commission in his father's shop or via the Ethiopian Handicraft Center, which, along with the ETTE, competed with traditional painters. These organizations could produce works more efficiently on the basis of work-sharing and could adapt faster to the changing taste of a heterogeneous clientele. They also had easy access to the national and international markets. Older traditional artists, who in the seclusion of their studios created large canvas paintings, were only marginally able to adapt to changing consumer tastes and market conditions and were rarely able to exhibit their works in Addis Ababa. When they did, it was always on the initiative of Europeans living in the capital. For instance, Jacques Bureau, a French anthropologist, organized an exhibition for the young traditional artist Qanna Sambata (1945-1991) at the Alliance Francaise in 1989. His paintings sold easily to buyers from abroad, as was the case with most such exhibitions. Thanks to the efforts of the Europeans who consciously promoted traditional painters, contemporary painting in traditional style survived the Derg (Biasio 1989:12; Mercier 1993:38f.).

SUBJECTS OF THE PAINTINGS

Walter Raunig (Girma Fisseha and Raunig 1985:15f.) has divided the themes of Ethiopian historical painting into nine groups, which he listed according to their frequency: 1) religious subjects; z) the legend of the Queen of Sheba; 3) everyday life; 4) battles; 5) rulers and court, policy and diplomacy; 6) hunting; 7) religious and secular feasts; 8) the fraternization of the animals and various other themes; and 9) court scenes. These themes have been constant since the development of contemporary painting in traditional style more than a century ago. Secular themes have been depicted on church walls since the nineteenth century and could serve as models for painters looking for new ideas (cf. Pankhurst 1966:6-12, 15-18; Chojnacki 1978:76, fn. 31). One also finds representations of domestic articles in paintings, as in scenes of everyday life in older religious illustrations (Fig. 4). (14)

Innovation has, however, repeatedly occurred. Most likely due to requests from foreign patrons, painters created new themes, and if these sold, such themes were included in their repertoires. During the Italian occupation, scenes of the Ethiopian royal court vividly depicting cruel punishments (Fig. 13) confirmed the prejudices of foreign residents and visitors about "uncivilized natives." Perhaps the representation of actual events, such as the arrival of the first train in Addis Ababa (1917) or the landing of the first plane (1929), originated from suggestions by Europeans (cf. Girma Fisseha and Raunig 1985: figs. 98-99). Of note is a 1960s painting by Solomon Belatchew that depicts the life of Abebe Bikila, winner of the Olympic marathon. (15) The artist depicted the story in twenty-four scenes, just as he would have illustrated the legend of the Queen of Sheba (ibid., pp. 190f., Fig. 102) Thus, in order to tell a new story, he reverted to an already accepted formal principle. Later on, political events, such as those of the Socialist regime, were taken up by painters due to consumer demand. (16) The view of Addis Ababa by Berhanu Yemenu was also likely to have been painted to order (Fig. 6). Most of the paintings depicting scenes of the Derg originate from the painter Berhanu Yemenu and Qanna Sambata (cf. Mercier 1993:38f., Figs. 88-92, 94-97). One of these works is composed of copies of propaganda posters of the EPRDF, (17) which Afewerq Mengesha painted from photographs in 1993. It was displayed in the Linden-Museum in Stuttgart during an exhibition of modern African art in 2004 (Forkl 2004:104-11). Such topical themes are, however, usually short-lived, and today artists still return to traditional subjects. Particularly popular are events of the life of Emperor Tewodros (r. 1855-1868), historic battles, scenes of everyday life, occurrences at and around Lake Tana, and above all, the legend of the Queen of Sheba. Idyllic scenes of the life of the farmers, heroic hunts or battles idealize the cultural and political values of the past. Ulli Beier remarked:

   The political realities ... are not at all reflected in the
   paintings: the unjust distribution of land, the poor and exploited
   farmers, the droughts and the famines, disease and the political
   fermentation have no room in this touching world of art (1982:3).

[FIGURE 7 OMITTED]

Although Qes Adamu Tesfaw paints images dealing with contemporary political and social issues including famine, HIV, AIDS, and political violence, the question remains whether he will find customers for these paintings or if the subjects are short-lived and will disappear from his repertoire. (18)

THE STYLE

In order to discuss the painting principles of contemporary painting in traditional style I must first characterize the second Gondarene style, which remained the dominant style up to the beginning of the twentieth century, and its transformation, which parallels the principles that Benetta Jules-Rosette has formulated for African art in general in the course of the twentieth century (1984:37-41). The second Gondarene style was a characteristically sumptuous representative court style, which, according to Chojnacki, was fully developed by around the 1720s (2000:40), elements of which are preserved in traditional religious paintings and contemporary paintings in traditional style even today. Chojnacki (1964:7) formulates the features of this style as follows: as in earlier times, the so-called profile rule was observed, i.e., morally good individuals were represented in a front view or in a three-quarter position, while the enemies of Christ and the morally bad were represented in profile. Through the use of light and shadow, the figures became more three-dimensional, more enlivened, and the eyes, which looked forward in earlier times, now looked at what is going on in the painting. Sumptuous costumes, jewelry, and bridles were depicted, reflecting the taste of the rulers.

In the twentieth century, works continue to be painted in strong, bright colors with black-rimmed figures. Painters never try to give an illusionistic rendering with a central perspective, although a selective application of perspective could already be found in depictions of architecture in church and manuscript paintings of the second Gondarene style. Methods other than selective application of perspective continue to be used to suggest depth in space. Within groups, only figures in the first row are rendered completely, while those in the back have only their heads, headdress, or hairstyles outlined. Things or persons located one behind the other are represented as one on top of the other, and the size of a figure accords with its degree of importance and not with the rules of perspective. The proportions of space, therefore, are always unnaturalistic.

When legends are represented, the scenes are usually arranged in one or several rows (Fig. 1). When different stages of an event are represented, the canvas is often divided into irregular segments, although the Queen of Sheba narrative paintings are usually produced in regular rows and columns (Fig. 2). Captions may be used to identify persons or explain scenes, as is the case in traditional painting genres. The profile rule is often, but not always, applied. Saints as well as Amhara and Tigrai subjects all have lair skin; southern people are depicted with darker skin. As was already typical for the second Gondarene style, weapons, costumes, and utensils are represented naturalistically. Since artists represent the material culture of their own time, many paintings are anachronistic.

In terms of Bennetta Jules-Rosette's rules with regard to African art in general, it is worth noting the most important principles:

1. The form of the human body, stylized in traditional art, becomes exaggerated or modified. This is clearly illustrated in a representation of the legend of the Queen of Sheba by ETTE (Fig. 5). The design, probably created by Afewerq Mengesha, exhibits intentional stylization with exaggerated size of the eyes. (19)

2. Progressive commercialization entails standardized, simplified, and stereotyped designs. The social relations expressed in traditional works through body posture and status symbols become less explicit and lose their cultural significance. For example, in The Battle of Lasta, probably by Wolde Mikael, dating from the late 1920s, dress and status symbols are carefully represented (Fig. 3), whereas they are of secondary importance in The Battle of Metemma by Qengeta lembere Hailu (Fig. 7). Nevertheless, paintings with carefully executed paraphernalia have also been created in recent years, as is evidenced by a painting by Berhanu Yemenu depicting a horse show before Emperor Menelik II, which I acquired in 1986 (Fig. 8). The painting showing the legend of the Queen of Sheba (Fig. 9) is, on the other hand, an example of less careful work, with simplified and stereotyped bodies.

[FIGURE 8 OMITTED]

3. Miniature painting and the use of more typical materials come into being. As already mentioned, parchment is considered by tourists as more "ethnic" than canvas. Up until the 1940s, large paintings on canvas or paper were dominant. To my knowledge, the earliest small-format paintings on parchment and paper are those reproduced in a catalog by L. Ricci, who assumed that they arrived in the museum before 1945 (1989:120-52). In later years, small paintings began to be produced by the Ethiopian Handicraft Center and the ETTE, but also by painters such as Solomon Belatchew or Qes Legesse (Fig. 4). A collection of thirty-nine small paintings on parchment by the painter Qetsela Mengistu, dating from the 1960s and 1970s, was exhibited in 1984 at the IWALEWA-House of the University of Bayreuth (Bender 1984).

Despite these modifications in style and form, I would argue that the style of large canvas paintings should still be considered contemporary painting in traditional style because of its traditional representation of space and figures. In my opinion, however, small parchment paintings should be labeled tourist art, although I recognize that the borders between the two genres are somewhat fluid.

The transition from traditional to commercial style can most clearly be seen by considering the work of five painters who began their careers as traditional artists but who became commercial artists once they moved to the capital (Girma Kidane 1989:76f.).

TRADITIONAL PAINTERS AND THEIR LEGACY

Qengeta Jembere Hailu (1913-94) came from a small village west of Debre Tabor (Begemder). He had a traditional church education, and the title Qengeta means that he was responsible for the priests on the right side of the altar during mass. He learned to paint with his uncle Aleqa Alemu Gabriel, with whom he worked in different churches in the province of Wello and in Debre Tabor. He moved to Addis Ababa in 1948, and there he met the painter Belatchew Yimer, who encouraged him to work for the growing tourist market. Until the revolution, his income came from painting. Collectors and museums bought his works, which can now be found in the Museum of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies in Addis Ababa, the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich, the State Museum for Ethnography in Munich and the Michigan State University Museum in East Lansing (Figs. 2, 7; Girma Kidane 1989:73-75; Silverman and Girma Fisseha 1999:157-66; Vasconcelos e Melo 2OOl:n.p.).

In 1986, while searching for painters working in the traditional style, I met two friends and neighbors, Wondimu Wende and Alemu Haile Maryam, living near Addis Ababa University. Both came from Bichena Giyorgis in Gojjam, the homeland of several other painters working in Addis Ababa, including Yohannes Tesemma (1914-1972), who moved to the capital in 1933, and Qes Adamu Tesfaw, who has lived in Addis Ababa since 1963. Wondimu Wende (1917-2002) attended church school, became a deacon, and taught himself to paint. Alemu studied with Qes Gebez (20) Anteneh Gebru, who also taught Qes Adamu Tesfaw. Alemu then followed his brother Yitbarek Halle Maryam to Addis Ababa in 1932. At that time, Yitbarek was a well-known painter producing for foreigners, and he gave lessons to Alemu. Both brothers were busy in the workshop of Prince Amiradjibi. In 1934, Wondimu moved to the capital as well and joined Yitbarek. Previously he had only painted for churches, including Le-Atrefo Giyorgis in the Gurage region, but he expanded his repertoire to include the usual secular themes (Fig. 10).

After initially copying his brother's style, Alemu found his own means of expression. During a visit, he showed me how he produced a painting. He began by stretching the canvas bought at the market on a wooden frame. Then he boiled together chalk and water to form a paste that he applied with a brush to the canvas. Next, he sketched the whole scene with a pen, then filled in each color one after the other, starting with the background. Finally he outlined all the images with black. During the Derg regime, paints were scarce and almost unaffordable. Like his peers, Alemu suffered from the lack of tourists and from competition with the Ethiopian Handicraft Center and ETTC and with FAS-trained artists who were commissioned by the state (Fig. 11).

The churches decorated by painters working in Addis Ababa are far away from the capital and therefore difficult to visit. So I was happy to meet the then-78-year-old artist Berhanu Yemenu who had, in 1968-1973, painted the walls of the Holy of Holies the church of St. Peter near Paulos Hospital in Addis Ababa. Although self-taught, Berhanu (1908-1989) was a very gifted painter. He was born near Addis Ababa; because of the early death of his lather, he could not attend school, but he observed church painters at work during his childhood. Berhanu came to Addis Ababa in 1930, where he worked as a watchman in the palace of Emperor Haile Selassie and was able to form relationships with painters such as Tasew Habte Wold or Shimeles Habte Yimer who worked for foreign patrons. He was trained by them and was temporarily employed in the workshop of Prince Amiradjibi. Finally, he worked for the Ministry of Education as a teacher of traditional art and was sent to the former southwestern province of Illubabor to instruct children. There Berhanu learned from priests and learned how to read and write. When he returned to Addis Ababa, he quit government service and became a freelance painter. He sold his paintings directly to tourists or to tourist shops. Examples of his work can be seen in the Museum of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies in Addis Ababa and in the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich (Figs. 6, 8).

[FIGURE 9 OMITTED]

One of the last painters of his generation with traditional training is Qes Adamu Tesfaw. Ray Silverman interviewed Qes Adamu in 1993. Like Wondimu Wende and Alemu Halle Maryam, Qes Adamu was born in Bichena Giyorgis in Gojjam province in 1933. His father was a priest, and Adamu received a church education. He learned to paint with Qes Gebez Anteneh Gebru, who also trained Alemu Haile Maryam. Qes Adamu was ordained priest at the age of 26, but in 1963 he gave up his vocation and moved to Addis Ababa, in part because of the larger market for artists, as Adamu considered painting to be his mission in life. In Addis Ababa he found a large community of diplomats, traders, and tourists, as well as other artists from Gojjam who were able to make a living and support their families by painting. Initially, Qes Adamu lived with his godfather Yohannes Tesemma, who taught at the Empress Menen Handicraft School (Bjornesjo 1980:54-57). His work is found at the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich (Fig. 12), Michigan State University Museum in East Lansing, the Fowler Museum at UCLA in Los Angeles, and in private collections in Europe and North America (Silverman 1999:133-36, 144-47, 152-55; Silverman 2005).

The question now arises as to whether the artists' sons will continue the work of their fathers. Berhanu Yemenu's son Getachew Berhanu learned painting from his father and became a successful painter who has worked in traditional style. When I visited him in May 2004, he introduced me to his neighbor Gerard Leroy, a Frenchman, who had already bought many of his paintings and also helped him to market them. At that time, Getachew had held exhibitions at the Alliance Francaise and at the Italian Cultural Institute (Fig. 13). In addition, he is known as an illustrator of such works as a UNICEF brochure on the rights of children.

Marqos Jembere (b. 1958), the son of Jembere Hailu, also learned to paint from his father, but although he is a gifted artist he eventually became a civil servant (Silverman 1999:166-69).

Gebre Kristos Solomon continues to run his father's shop. He is a talented painter and a master of different styles. In May 2004, we met with his son Gigar Gebre Kristos, who reported that his father works mostly on a commission basis. Thus he had painted for Richard Pankhurst, an English historian living in the capital, a traditional style painting representing the Battle of Adowa. But he also executes icons or paintings in a realistic-academic style.

THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

When I visited Addis Ababa in 2004, I was trying to find out if large canvas paintings were still on sale. I therefore visited HASIDA to learn about the latest developments in painting. In 2001, HASIDA changed its name to FEMSEDA (Federal Micro and Small Development Agency). This organization promotes small enterprises of all kinds. Although paintings are no longer sold, handicrafts and printed textiles are offered for sale. These are the work of Taytu Said 'Ali, a deaf-mute woman artist who graduated in graphic arts at the FAS.

[FIGURE 10 OMITTED]

I also paid a visit to ETTE. In 1996, the enterprise moved from Bole Airport to what was then Asmara Road. (21) In the painting workshop, deaf-mute artists continue to work. Meanwhile, Afewerq Mengesha has retired, but Bizuayehu Tadesse, a good artist whose works are often copied by other painters, still works there part time, producing work in a realistic-academic style. Hence, in the ETTE studio only scattered canvases of contemporary painting in the traditional style are to be found. They are outweighed--in both the ETTE workshop and commercial store--by paintings on parchment, some in wooden frames, or academic paintings on canvas. The assortment has not changed fundamentally since 1986, except that academic works created by artists in the painting workshop are now also for sale. An employee of ETTE is analyzing the market to find out which products are most favored by consumers. At the moment ETTE artists concentrate on creating realistic-academic style works. Traditional motifs are still painted on parchment, but also increasingly appear on other materials, such as screen printed scarves, woven baskets and lampshades, and embroidery.

I also visited souvenir shops to find out if buyers can still find large traditional style paintings. In Gebre Kristos Solomon's shop, paintings in traditional style continue to hang on the walls for sale, especially those of dead artists such as his father Solomon Belatchew, Jembere Hailu, or Berhanu Yemenu. I was also aware of a similar situation in other souvenir shops in the Mercato. Apart from large older paintings--many of which are new works treated to look old and are relatively expensive at about US$500--small, dilettantish, carelessly executed paintings, above all with scenes of the legend of the Queen of Sheba, are on offer for about US$12. In addition, conventional paintings on parchment, some in wooden frames, are also on sale.

It is true that there are today still some traditional painters with a church education, like Qes Adamu, who produce large canvases in good quality, just as the sons of traditional painters like Getachew Berhanu or Gebre Kristos Solomon do, but this tradition is vanishing, except, perhaps, in the northern city of Aksum, where several painters still produce large paintings. The efforts of foreign nationals to support traditional painters, as was the case with Qanna Sambata and is still so with Getachew Berhanu, may slow, but not totally stop, the demise of large traditional-style paintings produced for sale to foreigners. For the decoration of churches the painters trained at the SFAD are given preference over the traditional artists, at least in the capital. This is also the opinion of Ethiopian painting specialist Stanislaw Chojnacki (22) and anthropologist Joao Ramos, (23) who studies this kind of painting. Girma Fisseha, former curator of the Ethiopian collection in the State Museum for Ethnography in Munich has also argued along similar lines (2002). Small parchment paintings and small canvas paintings are occasionally bought by tourists. Such works are clearly easier to transport and can be more easily placed in a living room than large versions, which not uncommonly measure 170cm x 90cm. These latter works are often purchased by foreigners living in the country or collectors who sell them at a profit to museums.

[FIGURE 11 OMITTED]

[FIGURE 12 OMITTED]

[FIGURE 13 OMITTED]

SUMMARY

The concept of contemporary painting in traditional style indicates that the genre is currently being produced but has changed from the church-based genre of artistic production; it also excludes academic art, that is, fine art painting and sculpture. In short, traditional painting in Ethiopia has been subject to the following changes: church-trained artists have become rare, except perhaps in Aksum (Sobania and Silverman, this issue), and more self-taught artists are active in rural and urban settings. Whereas in the past, traditional religious art was acquired by locals, very often in exchange for land rights, painting has developed into a commodity, bought by foreigners, with less direct contact between artist and buyer due to middlemen. Themes have expanded, also in line with the wishes of foreign clients, and the style has changed, as is, in general, typical for African art when foreigners enter in large numbers. The result of all these changes is that contemporary painting in traditional style probably is in the process of being superseded by tourist art manufactured by institutions like the Ethiopian Handicraft Center and ETTE as well as by the products of painters trained at the SFAD.

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Notes

This is a modified version of the chapter "Von der traditionellen Malerei zur Touristenkunst" in Biasio 2006:14-38. I would like to thank Robert Clements for reviewing the English text as well as Peri Klemm and Leah Niederstadt for their contructive comments to an earlier draft of this article.

(1) All histories claim that Menelik II's rule ended in 1913, the year of his death. On August 24, 2004, Wolbert Smidt of the University of Hamburg wrote to me that the seriously ill Menelik only ruled till 1909, and that afterwards Ras Tasamma Nadaw became regent. Cf. also Clapham 2007:926.

(2) Examples of such churches are: Entoto Maryam. Entoto Raquel, the old Selassie church, the Urael church, the Giyorgis church in Addis Ababa and the Maryam church in Addis Alem (Biasio 2004:88-99).

(3) A debtera does not belong to the circle of ordained persons. His most important activities are church singing, the recitation of holy texts, and paperwork. He also has magical knowledge and produces magic scrolls, which protect against illnesses and the evil eye (Hammerschmidt 1967:121).

(4) The Kebra Negast is a collection of myths, historical traditions, and texts, also from the Old and New Testament, which were compiled in the fourteenth century. Translation from the Ethiopic: Bezold 1909; further comments of. Haberland 1965:29-34, Hammer schmidt 1967:45-49.

(5) In former times, the walls of palaces were rarely decorated with paintings. Pankhurst (1966:9) mentions the palace of Emperor Lebne Dengel (r. 1508-1540) in Andotnoh Shewa and the palace of Emperor Bekaffa (r. 1721-1730) in Gondar.

(6) Painter Girma Agegnehu, personal communication, Addis Ababa, 1989..

(7) Information provided by the donator Ernst Stockli in 1984. His brother used to own the picture and had participated in this mission to Ethiopia.

(8) Ras is a military title similar to "prince".

(9) Some of his paintings can be found in the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich.

(10) W.C. Guder, personal communication, Wiesbaden, Germany, October 1987.

(11) He studied at different art academies in the US (1950s) and in Paris (1970s).

(12) A part of their collection was exhibited in the IWALEWA House of the University of Bayreuth from October 29, 1982-January 2, 1983; cf. Bender 1982.

(13) Now part of Addis Ababa University, the FAS has been renamed the School of Fine Art and Design (SFAD).

(14) A good example is the life and the miracles of the Saint Weletta Petros in the manuscript "Lake Tana 179": cf. Hammerschmidt 1977:28 and figs. 138-50. Here, many Ethiopian household utensils are reproduced.

(15) I thank Leah Niederstadt for the hint that in Addis Ababa today one can occasionally find paintings that depict the sportsmen Halle Gebreselassie and Keninisa Bekele (personal communication, June 2008).

(16) For instance, as Makda Teklemichael mentions in her contribution to this issue, traditional painters working in northern Ethiopia often depict revolutionary fighters in their work. Also, Qes Adamu Tesfaw has produced paintings illustrating the overthrow of the Derg regime (Silverman 2005).

(17) The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front conquered the socialist military regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991.

(18) Leah Niederstadt, personal communication, June 2008; Silverman 2005:98-115.

(19) An identical representation with the signature of Afewerq Mengesha is to be found in Girma Fisseha and Raunig 1985:fig. 1.

(20) A Qes Gebez is the custodian of a church, usually in charge of the sacred utensils and may also be in charge of the priests (Kane 1990:753).

(21) Today, the road is named after the runner Halle Gebreselassie.

(22) Personal communication, November 16, 2002.

(23) Personal communication, February 11, 2002.

ELISABETH BIASIO was curator of the Ethiopian, North African and Middle Eastern department of the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich, Switzerland 1978-2006. She is now retired, [e-mail]