b. 1937, Ethiopia
d. 2003
In 1954 Skunder won second prize at the Jubilee Anniversary Celebration of Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie I. The next year he was awarded a scholarship to study in Europe and spent two years in London at St. Martin's School, Central School and the Slade School of Fine Art. He extended his sojourn in Europe another nine years as a student and teacher at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. In 1966 Skunder returned to Ethiopia and taught at the School of Fine Arts in Addis Ababa until 1969. He moved to the United States in 1970 and taught at Howard University from 1972 to 2001. He is the first contemporary African artist to have work purchased by the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
He recently collaborated with Kebedech Tekleab on a commission entitled 
Nexus at the Embassy of Ethiopia in Washington, D.C.
Recommended web sites for further study
(not affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution)
http://www.the3rdman.com/ethiopianart/articles/boghossian.html
http://www.library.cornell.edu/africana/Library/Boghossian.html
On April 30, on the occasion of the opening of Ethiopian Passages: Dialogues in the Diaspora, curator Elizabeth Harney asked Skunder to comment on his work in relation to the exhibition's theme of relocation and diaspora.
Go to the Video Interview section.
Composition II
1997
Acrylic on paper
53 x 69 cm. (21 x 27 in.)
Collection of the artist
Time Cycle III
1981
Embossed bark cloth
122 x 122 cm. (48 x 48 in.)
Lent by Contemporary African Art Gallery, New York
Jacob's Ladder
1984
Mixed media on paper
66 x 59 cm. (26 x 20 in.)
Lent by Contemporary African Art Gallery, New York
The End of the Beginning
1972-73
Oil on canvas
122.5 x 170 cm. (48 x 67 in.)
National Museum of African Art, museum purchase, 91-18-2