Drawing of Haile Selassie, 1959
By Afewerk Tekle
Charcoal
30 cm X 25 cm
Afewerk Tekle [1 2,] is an Ethiopian painter, who is best known for his stained glass windows in the Africa Hall of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa.
Recently, I came across postcard reproductions of a few of his works. The first (above) is a delicate charcoal drawing of Haile Selassie, which Tekle describes as "Study for the portrait of the Emperor Haile Selassie" which he drew in 1959. Haile Selassie was around 67 years old then, but his face has an optimistic youthfulness. Before he decided to work as an artist, Tekle had gone to England to study mining engineering. At his departure (and probably with a large group of other young students), Haile Selassie told them: "You must work hard, and when you come back do not tell us what tall buildings you saw in Europe, or what wide streets they have, but make sure you return equipped with the skills and the mindset to rebuild Ethiopia." This was advice given by no means belittling Europe, but a way to remind these young Ethiopians that their task was bigger than admiration, but also learning and emulating.
The second (below) is a stained glass window in one of the military schools titled: "Great Leaders: dedicated to great kings who have defended Ethiopia against foreign military intervention." It is a much larger 6m X 4m, and dates back to 1958. It is hard to read the script at the bottom of the figures and worse on the blog, but the first (on the left) is Emperor Menelik II (Dagmawi Menelik), and the second is Ras Makonnen, father of Haile Selassie. The fourth figure with the crown is most likely King Ezana (I can clearly make out the "E" and somewhat the "Za" from "E", "Za" "Na" of the three letters of his name in Amharic):
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Ethiopia against foreign military intervention, 1958
By Afewerk Tekle
Stained glass window in Harar Military Academy
6 m X 4 m
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References:
1. Afewerk Tekle on Wikipedia
2. Afewerk Tekle on facebook (a more extensive biography)