Art Of Ethiopia - Softcover

The hand crosses, icons and illuminated manuscripts of Ethiopian Christianity are the subject of this slim, lavishly illustrated volume, a treasure of devotional art. Though today a majority of its citizens are Muslim, Ethiopia-the oldest independent country in Africa-has Christian roots that date to the fourth century and the conversion of their King Ezana, and the Orthodox Christian art featured here dates from the 12th century to the 19th. This carefully curated book is divided into three sections, focusing on the ornate cast iron and bronze crosses first used in church processionals during the Middle Ages; the illuminated texts that were popular from the 14th to the 16th century and then again in the late 17th and 18th; and the painted icons that had begun playing a crucial role in worship by the 15th century. All reveal the dynamic marriage of Judeo-Christian and sub-Saharan African traditions and the traffic between Ethiopia and Byzantine, Islamic and European art. The crosses have a Celtic flavor, the icons seem Byzantine and some compositions were modeled on Roman paintings-and yet the subject matter, figures and colors form a distinct iconographic tradition. --Publishers Weekly [Art of the Ethiopia] is a beautiful catalogue. . . . The clear, full-color images enable close study of the narratives and portraits represented. . . . [it] will serve for years to come as a resource for those interested in Ethiopian liturgical art. --Museum Anthropology

The unique character of Ethiopian art is the legacy of its situation high in the mountains, on the Horn of Africa. Though remote and often isolated it evolved a tradition in response to contacts with Byzantine, European, and Islamic cultures. Beginning in the twelfth century, elaborate crosses were cast and engraved in iron and bronze. Painted and carved icons were produced in a tradition that reached its peak at the end of the seventeenth century. Above all it is richly illustrated manuscripts which have provided the most defining expression of Ethiopian Christianity.