ETHIOPIA

1983. 72 pages. 11 color photographs, 30 black and white photographs, I map. Related reading list. Commentary by Claire Jordan. Compilation and foreword by Anna Saulsbery. Design and preface by Martha Longenecker, Director.

From our previous exhibition. Guest-curated by Dr. Csilla Perczel, Professor and Art Historian, San Diego State University.

The first and most comprehensive exhibition depicting Ethiopian culture known to have been presented anywhere in the world. The exhibition consists of over 150 rare, historical and contemporary pieces, including crosses of silver, brass, and copper; paintings on cloth and parchment; icons on wood; manuscripts, textiles, baskets, weapons and musical instruments. The articles, which were integral parts of daily life, and whose forms date to Biblical times, reflect the pagan, Judaic, Christian, and Islamic heritage of the country. 

Excerpt from the book

INTRODUCTION Martha Longenecker, M.FA.

Professor of Art, San Diego State University Founding President of MINGEI INTERNATIONAL

THE ETHIOPIANS "SLEPT NEAR A THOUSAND YEARS, FORGETFUL OF THE WORLD BY WHOM THEY WERE FORGOTTEN." Edward E. Gibbon, THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

Through the silent language of the visual arts, the hidden empire of Ethiopia is revealed. Historical and contemporary arts of daily life clearly speak to us of this multi racial and linguistic nation. They portray the nearly 3,000-year complex history of invasion and defense of an increasingly strategically located land where most inhabitants continue to live on the relatively inaccessible 8,000-foot high central plateau.

In addition to geographical isolation, periods of increased seclusion brought by political activity and chosen separation, have further induced self-reliance and a turning inward, reflected in the deep currents of the arts. Strong cultural qualities reflecting Ethiopia's isolation, remind us of a similar flowering of the arts of Japan during her self-imposed 200-year seclusion which ended in 1853 but not by choice.

Because of Ethiopia's many years of isolation, the unsurpassed beauty of this culture's illuminated manuscripts, icons on wood, and mural paintings in rock-carved churches have been little known to the main stream of art history. Icons, painted for devotional use and hidden within the sacred chambers of the Church, were seldom exhibited nor kept in the home. Well preserved, these were only discovered after 1960 when Haile Selassie opened the country for tourism.

A distinctive use and combination of line, form, and color developed and is evident in the preindustrial objects of daily use and ritual made by hand from the plentiful natural materials of this mountainous land. Wood, clay, stone, fiber, metal and shell are skillfully handled with an innate sense of design. The extensive variety of the folk arts range from musical instruments of ancient African origin and shell-ornamented bread-carrying baskets to the devotional icons painted on wood and crosses of silver and brass. Paintings, including those that depict daily life activities and warriors at battle, repeat with variation, central themes such as the King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba narrative and the dramatic scene of Saint George slaying the dragon. Through these arts, we can directly see and quickly understand so much of the everyday life of Ethiopia—a life that in many ways for so many of the people, remains relatively unchanged since Biblical times.

In addition to influences of powerful astral signs and symbols of remote origin as found in talismans and paintings on magic scrolls, the design motifs of Ethiopia reflect three of the world's great religious traditions that coexist and permeate the culture—Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Though religious practices and beliefs of these multicultural groups differ, all acknowledge basic structures of existence as a framework for living and working in harmony with the Cosmos. Thus, all of the art forms are relevant to life and embody an aesthetic dimension that enlivens one's spirit.

I am often asked how such an exhibition as ETHIOPIA: Folk Art of a Hidden Empire comes into being. For each exhibition organized and presented by MINGEI INTERNATIONAL, the answer is different. However, all have a beginning that may be as ephemeral as a passing thought or suggestion, which like a seed, if developed and nourished through funding, comes to fruition in a richly varied and thematically related collection. Only when placed in space and given the light each requires, do these pieces become an exhibition and speak for themselves of the cultures and individuals they represent.

In the case of the exhibition on which this publication is based -ETHIOPIA -Folk Art of a Hidden Empire-the beginning occurred during 1978, the year in which MINGEI INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM was founded. The place was the Chicago Public Library where our Management Consultant, Sydney Martin Roth, on seeing a display of Ethiopian Folk Art, asked if the objects could be lent for exhibition at MINGEI INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM. The thought was dropped on learning that these pieces belonged to several private collectors and were not available.

Months later, we were surprised and delighted to receive a letter from Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Baumberger of Chicago which stated that as owners of part of that Ethiopian collection, they had been informed of Mr. Roth's inquiry and MINGEI INTERNATIONALS dedication to furthering the understanding of the "arts of the people." They had made their collection during some years of living in Ethiopia while Mr. Baumberger served as a U.S. State Department Administrative Adviser to Haile Selassie. Because they wished their collection to remain intact and have an appropriate home, they generously offered to give it in its entirety to MINGEI INTERNATIONAL...