Helene Love-Allotey
Head of Department
Property from the Family of Alexander "Skunder" Boghossian
Lot 12
Alexander "Skunder" Boghossian(Ethiopian, 1937-2003)The Big Orange 76 x 52.5in (193 x 133.4cm)
4 May 2021, 14:00 EDT
New YorkUS$150,000 - US$200,000
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Alexander "Skunder" Boghossian (Ethiopian, 1937-2003)
The Big Orange
signed and dated 'SKUNDER 71' (lower center)
oil on canvas
76 x 52.5in (193 x 133.4cm)
signed and dated 'SKUNDER 71' (lower center)
oil on canvas
76 x 52.5in (193 x 133.4cm)
Footnotes
Provenance
The collection of the artist's family.
Exhibited
Baltimore, Morgan University Gallery, March 1973, no.17.
Like several of his works that were done between 1970, one year after he left Ethiopia for the United States, and 1974, the year the Ethiopian revolution broke out, The Big Orange depicts feelings of ambivalence and uncertainty. His very good friend Endale Haile Selassie who taught painting at the School of Fine Art and Design in Addis Ababa had died in 1971. The alleged cause of death was suicide although Skunder believed Endale was murdered by security forces of the imperial regime. In the early 1970s, the government of Emperor Haile Selassie had become politically unstable and abuse of human rights had significantly increased.
The Big Orange seems to represent this particular moment of Ethiopian history. Manifold views of various objects and symbols pervade the canvas. Images of two antelopes, a serpent, a bird and an African female mask over many dots of sparkle emerge fantastically and disquietly. The serpent is throwing out its venom away from the female mask as if in an act of protection, and one of the antelopes, the sacred animal that is also called 'eland' in East African folktales is adorned with Ethiopian scrolls that is attached to the sun which indicates a higher spirit. A bird stands on one of the antelopes' back symbolizing optimism and radiance. The initial interaction with the red hue of the canvas is striking that at first leaves the viewer with an imagination of collision and destruction. But instantly, one can see the final redemption that Skunder always sought.
We are grateful to Professor Elizabeth Giorgis for her compilation of the above footnote.
