Object Details
- Label Text
- Kosrof speaks of his recent works as investigations into a new alphabet, one which cleverly employs a vocabulary of signs and symbols to link past with present, and Africa with the diaspora in which he works and lives. Drawing upon traditional Ethiopian graphic systems, liturgical symbols, architectural forms, and pan-African motifs, Kosrof produces richly colored and detailed canvases. Deep reds and golds allude to Byzantine and Coptic histories while experiences of the diaspora are felt through affiliates with the syncopations of jazz.
- Kosrof received a BFA in 1972 from the School of Fine Arts, Addis Ababa and was awarded an MFA from Howard University in 1980. He taught for a number of years at Vermont College and has participated in a number of national and international artist workshops and in-residence programs, most notably the Rockefeller in Bellagio, Italy. He has shown his work in solo and group exhibitions in Ethiopia and throughout the United States and Europe. His works featured within the Ethiopian section of Seven Stories about Modern Art in Africa, during Africa'95 Whitechapel Gallery exhibition. He currently works out of a studio in Berkeley, California.
- Description
- Vertical unstretched canvas with multicolored geometric forms and light colored blocks. Some forms suggestive of Ethiopian script.
- Provenance
- Irwin and Marcia Hersey, New York, acquired from the artist
- Content Statement
- As part of our commitment to accessibility and transparency, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is placing its collection records online. Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks. If you see content requiring immediate action, we will do our best to address it in a timely manner. Please email nmafacuratorial@si.edu if you have any questions.
- Image Requests
- High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/
- Data Source
- National Museum of African Art
- Maker
- Wosene Kosrof, born 1950, Ethiopia
- Date
- 1988
- Credit Line
- Gift of Marcia Hersey in memory of Irwin Hersey
- Medium
- Oil and gold paint on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 54 x 36.1 x 3 cm (21 1/4 x 14 3/16 x 1 3/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
