Agegnehu Engida (1905 in Mahdere Maryam – 1950), was an Ethiopian

modern Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...

painter. He blended abstraction, expressionism, and surrealism, but maintained a style that was "distinctively Ethiopian."

Biography

As part of

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...

's education program, Agegnehu was granted a government scholarship to study at the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Science ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

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from 1926 to 1933. After his return from Europe, Agegnehu held many

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. He also worked on commissions for

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s, birr currency designs, church

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

s and portraits. In 1941, Agegnehu became the assistant director of Ethiopia's new Department of Fine Arts in the Ministry of Education and Fine Arts. He died of unknown causes in 1950, shortly after finishing the painting ''Twelve Donkeys''. Few works by the artist are known to survive today. Two of his portraits are housed in the

National Museum of Ethiopia The National Museum of Ethiopia (NME), also referred to as the Ethiopian National Museum, is a national museum in Ethiopia. It is located in the capital, Addis Ababa, near the Addis Ababa University's graduate school. Overview The museum houses ...

: a self-portrait and a portrait of Aster Mengesha.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Engida, Agegnehu 1905 births 1950 deaths Ethiopian painters 20th-century Ethiopian painters