Qangeta Jembere Hailu and His Son Marcos Qangeta Jembere is part of a tradition that may be traced back to the introduction of Christianity in Ethiopia during the fourth century. Jembere received a traditional church education that included training as a painter. He has produced paintings for a number of churches in Begemder, Wello, and Addis Ababa. But he, like Qes Adamu (one of the other painters featured in this exhibition), was attracted to Addis Ababa where he knew there was a larger market for his paintings.[1] Jembere is part of a tradition that derives much of its aesthetic sustenance from the past-in addition to producing paintings for the Church, he paints for a secular market. Indeed, most of the work he has produced over the last 40 years has been directed towards visitors to Ethiopia.
It is difficult to separate the histories of religious and secular painting in Ethiopia, Prior to the end of the nineteenth century, the only patrons of painters, like Jembere and Adamu were the Church and ruling elite. However, during the reign of Menelik II, at the end of the nineteenth century, a number of foreign diplomatic and commercial missions were established in Ethiopia that created a new market for Ethiopian traditional painting. Ethiopian monarchs commissioned paintings as gifts for visiting dignitaries. And many visitors to Ethiopia began commissioning artists to paint various religious and historical themes. By the 1920s there was a significant market for such paintings, primarily in the country's capital, Addis Ababa. The demand for these distinctive paintings continued to grow and this attracted painters who had been trained in the churches of Begemder, Gojjam, Wello, and Tigray. Even so, there have never been a large number of church-trained artists working in Addis Ababa. Today, most of the traditional-style painters in the city learn to paint in handicraft schools, are self-taught, or learn from their fathers outside the traditional setting of the Church.
Observing Jembere's recent work, one is struck by its bold, almost expressionistic, brushwork, as well as by its somber colors. These paintings are extremely unusual and therefore quite intriguing. Looking at some of his earlier paintings, one can see that his style has changed dramatically over the last decade. The change was not a conscious effort on his part, but appears to be the result of cataracts that have affected his vision.
Marcos pointed out that while he was in school he was the best painter in his class and his teachers encouraged him to continue his studies at a professional art school. Marcos has grown up in a different time than his father, and he has a different set of expectations. He would like to go to the School of Fine Arts in Addis Ababa or, better yet, a foreign art school because it is the only way he will be able to move beyond what he has learned from his father. He finished the twelfth grade some time ago, but it is still his dream to pursue a career as an artist. |
for there have long been secular elements in Ethiopian religious art. Many of the themes depicted in Christian paintings are often set in the context of a specific Ethiopian time and place-figures don the attire and accoutrements of the period during which the painting was produced. Though not as prevalent, there also is a tradition of history painting-specifically, images of past Ethiopian sovereigns celebrating the accomplishments of their respective reigns. The primary venue for both religious and historical paintings has been the Church, as wall paintings, icons, and manuscript illustrations. However, these paintings also were found, to a limited extent, in the palaces of rulers.
In addition to religious and historical themes, one finds paintings of everyday life, hunting, the mercato (market), and feasts. Another genre developed during the present century, naturalistic portrait painting. Jembere, like many painters whocame to Addis Ababa, was introduced to new techniques and modes of pictorial representation and he learned to paint in a more naturalistic style. Alongside "traditional" paintings we find artists, like Jembere, working from photographic images to produce paintings like his portrait of Emperor Haile Selassie that he says he painted in the 1950s.
Only one of Jembere's children, Marcos, has learned to paint. He is now in his mid-thirties and is a civil servant, a supervisor in a government motor pool. According to Marcos, his father began teaching him to paint when he was four or five. He is a good example of a traditional-style painter who was trained outside the Church. He learned by observing-his father advised him and showed him how to draw and paint. Early in his training he copied his father's work very closely but then began to experiment with his own interpretations of religious and historical subjects. Even so, comparing Marcos's work with his father's paintings before his eyesight began to deteriorate, one can see an affinity.
Marcos maintains a sketch book in which he keeps his drawings and studies for various subjects and he uses this as a reference for his paintings. However, like Adamu, he approaches each painting as a unique challenge. Comparing two of his paintings of the same theme, one can see that the basic composition is the same but that there is variation in detail.