Devil Descending

Object Details

Alexander "Skunder" Boghossian, 1937-2003, born Ethiopia

Label Text

The Ethiopian artist Alexander “Skunder” Boghossian presents a chaotic view of nature, a cosmos out of balance, in Devil Descending. Painted in 1972, the work captures the instability and tensions leading up to the overthrow of the Ethiopian monarchy in 1974. A fragmented landscape composed of a jumble of geometric forms, graphic symbols and complex imagery is set against a sky dominated by an orange-red sun, a crescent moon and a massive predatory creature with shadowy wings outstretched. It is a surreal world clearly threatened by the evil forces set to wreak havoc upon it.

Description

This richly colored and textured expressionist painting incorporates stylized representations of a bird(s) and human faces and body parts (e.g., an arm) and masks. At the top and near the center of the composition is a white crescent outlined in purple. Beneath this form is a bird with a horned mask for a head. Its talons grasp or sink into a layered pile of human heads, randomly arranged sideways, upright or upside down. The bird's wings extend laterally and are reminiscent of a frayed cloth blowing in the wind. The wavy bands and spirals of color in the background suggest turbulent motion. The wings are embellished with painted stars and patterned diagonal bands placed roughly parallel to one another. In the foreground at the far right is a totemic form composed of a red disk with the hint of a face drawn on it surmounting a pair of diamonds placed one on top of the other. The top diamond may represent a mask (circular eyes?) while the other is embellished with red, black and white painted dots. The overall surface is richly textured with paint vigorously applied, line drawing and splashes of pigment.

Provenance

Purchased by Starmanda Bullock from the artist

Gift from Bullock to Basilio Ciocci, Washington, D.C., -- to 1999

Exhibition History

Conversations: African and African American Artworks in Dialogue - From the Collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and Camille O. and William H. Cosby, Jr., National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, November 7, 2014-January 24, 2016

The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa 1945-1994, Museum Villa Stuck, February 15-December 30, 2000; Haus der Kulturen, Berlin, May 18-July 22, 2001; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, September 3-December 30, 2001

Published References

Kreamer, Christine Mullen and Adrienne L. Childs (eds). 2014. Conversations: African and African American Artworks in Dialogue from the Collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and Camille O. and William H. Cosby, Jr. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, p. 213, pl. 11.

Content Statement

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Image Requests

High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/

Credit Line

Gift of Basilio F. Ciocci in memory of Raimondo Ciocci and Elvira Maone Ciocci

1972

Object number

99-22-1

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Copyright

© 1972 Skunder Boghossian

Type

Painting

Medium

Oil and mixed media on canvas

Dimensions

H x W: 152.7 x 122.4 cm (60 1/8 x 48 3/16 in.)

Geography

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

See more items in

National Museum of African Art Collection

National Museum of African Art

Topic

Human

composite animal

sun

moon

Record ID

nmafa_99-22-1

Metadata Usage (text)

Usage conditions apply

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ys7399718b3-d717-4a8a-baf6-b200763b4d99