Ethiopian Church Art: Painters, Patrons, Purveyors

Sumptuously illustrated with over 300 color photographs, this groundbreaking study explores the vital role of devotional paintings in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church through the lives and work of the individuals who make, commission and sell them. Designed to engage and inform the reader both visually and textually, Ethiopian Church Art will appeal to a wide and diverse audience, both general and academic, interested in art, art history, religion, history, Ethiopia and Africa.Ethiopian Church Art is based on twenty-five years of research in the northern Ethiopian town of Aksum and in Addis Ababa, working with over two hundred individuals. Whereas Addis Ababa, the country's capital, is a relatively new city, Aksum has been continuously occupied for over 2000 years. It was the capital of the ancient state of Aksum and the place where Christianity was introduced in the fourth century. Today it is a holy city and an important center for Orthodox painting.As the authors, Raymond Silverman and Neal Sobania explain in the Introduction to their image-rich study, "We anticipate that some readers will open the book and want to read its text, while others will be interested in its visual imagery. We of course hope that the reader is interested in both image and text and suggest that they be explored in tandem. With this goal in mind, a good deal of thought has gone into making the book accessible as both a visual and literary text."