There
followed a chain of invitations from various parts of the
world. In 1964 Afewerk opened an impressive and successful
exhibition in Moscow which was widely attended: he proceeded
to visit many of the Artistic cities of the Soviet Union,
giving lectures on the way. Later that year he went to the
United States at the invitation of the American Government
to present his one-man show in Washington and New York.
He toured the country giving twenty-two lectures at various
Universities and other cultural centers.
In the ensuing years he exhibited and lectured in Senegal,
Turkey, Zaire, the United Arab Republic, Bulgaria, and Munich
on the occasion of the XX Olympiad, Kenya and Algeria.
Afewerk has been engaged in many challenging works, such
as the mural of St. Paul’s Hospital which was completed
early in 1972, and the second and larger version of his
Last Judgment, now in the Adigrat Cathedral in Tigrai. Afewerk
continued meanwhile with his studies of Ethiopian faces,
landscapes and costumes in an attempt to preserve this heritage
for coming generations. Later compositions included murals
of the old sites of Addis Ababa (the market), Awassa landscapes,
Harrar and Sidamo compositions, and a new study for a mural
of the celebrated Ethiopian Saint Abuna Taklahaymanot, the
founder of the monastery of Dabra Libanos.
In the 1970’s Afewerk, though still deeply interested
in the Ethiopian heritage and African culture, pondered
on the unity of mankind, and on the need for world peace.
Hence his painting entitled “Unity Triptych”:
(a) The disunity of man. (b) Towards the unity of man. (c)
Symbol of human unity. This won him the gold medal at the
Algiers International Festival in 1977. In September 1980
Afewerk gave an important one-man show in the U.S.S.R.,
the first since the Ethiopian Revolution of 1974. This exhibition,
the artist’s second appearance in the Soviet Union,
was held at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow and the Russian
State Museum in Leningrad, and attracted a large number
of art critics and art-lovers from many parts of the Soviet
Union.
He was awarded the highest order of “Hero of Peace
and Friendship”, and was recognized as the most significant
and serious twentieth century artist from the African continent.
A year later Afewerk was invited by the Federal German Republic
to exhibit his works at the IFA Galley in Bonn, and to give
a series of illustrated lectures on his work and his Ethiopian
artistic heritage, at Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich and
Frankfurt. The exhibition and visit re-awakened much enthusiasm
among the German public with its long-standing scholarly
interest in Ethiopia and her ancient culture.
This visit, like those which preceded it, gave Afewerk the
opportunity to meet, know and exchange views with many contemporary
artists and creative thinkers, as well as once more to study
and re-evaluate the great masters.
In 1981, his work “Self-portrait” was the first
from the African continent to be honoured for inclusion
in the permanent collection of the Uffizi Museum, Florence,
Italy.
Later, in 1997, he attended the Biennale of Acquitaine,
France, where he exhibited two works: “The Chalice
and the Cross in the Life of the African People” (a
study for a stained glass window 12mx11m) and “The
Sun of Senegal”. He won the first prize, with the
second, third and fourth going to competitors from Japan,
France and Mexico respectively. He was also nominated Laureate
of the Biennale, an honour that carried with it the Grand
Cordon with the Easel of Gold, and membership of the French
International Academy of Arts.
Subsequently, in 2000, he was one of the few chosen as World
Laureate of the American Biographical Institute at the 27th
International Congress Millennium on the Arts and Communication
in Washington DC.
In 2004, at the Thirtieth Anniversary of the International
Congress on Science, Culture and the Arts, held in Dublin,
Ireland, Afewerk was awarded the Da Vinci Diamond “for
his Contribution to the Wealth of Human Learning and Advancement
of Modern Art”. At the same venue, the United Cultural
Convention of the USA awarded the artist the Valiant Award
for “his efforts in promoting Global Harmony through
his Contribution to World Art”.
Afewerk has mastered not only numerous media but has also
shown ability to select the style most appropriate to his
theme. He has not made a dogma of realism, symbolism, or
abstract art, or of any other “ism” for that
matter, but has used all of these approaches with imagination.
In recognition of his valuable contributions to African
Art as a whole, Afewerk has been given many awards, medals
and high decorations by heads of state of many parts of
the world.
When we realize the extent of Afewerk’s creative output
we can be confident that he will achieve much more in the
future. His creative genius and his application to hard
work have already set an example to his generation and assured
his place not only as a leading Ethiopian artist but also
as a figure in the art world of the twentieth century
Prof.
Dr Richard Pankhurst
