 Born in Addis Ababa in 1937, professor Boghossian was awarded an "Imperial Scholarship" and a second prize at the Jubilee Anniversary Celebration of Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie I. At the age of 17 he was sent to study at London's St. Martin's School of Art. He extended his stay for another nine years during which he moved to Paris and became a student and teacher at that city's Académie de la Grande Chaumière and at the Ecole Supérieure des Beaux Arts. He was the first Ethiopian painter whose work was purchased by the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris in 1963.
Later, in 1965, Boghossian was the first contemporary African artist to have his work purchased by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Professor Boghossian returned to Ethiopia in 1966 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 until his death. Professor Boghossian was one of Africa’s best-known contemporary artists and internationally widely exhibited. For the last twenty years his art and style have defined modern Ethiopian painting. He was the first Ethiopian artist to be honored by both the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris (1963), and the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1965), with the purchase of his works. Writing about Boghossian in the book Seven Stories: About Modern Art in Africa, Salah Hassan observed the movement that Boghossian was such an integral part of; "Unlike their predecessors within the modernist experience, they did not engage in art as a mere academic exercise, nor did they uncritically accept what they had learned of the western tradition. They were pioneers, who developed a new visual vocabulary of iconography, symbolism and technique which continues to define the modern art movements in their countries." Widely praised for his energetic abstractions of tradition and use of vivid colour, Boghossian is cited as having established the standard for modern art in Ethiopia. Salah Hassan summarizes Boghossian's influence as follows: "He revolutionized and set new standards for the Ethiopian modern art movement.” |
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