Afewerk Tekle

Afewerk Tekle (1932–2012) was born on 22 October 1932. In 1947 he began his professional training in England, first at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London and then at the Slade School, from which he graduated in 1954. His major monumental work is the stained glass for Africa Hall in Addis Ababa (architect Arturo Mezzedimi, 1961), which reflects both the Pan-African and the national ambitions of the 1960s. In 1964 he became the first winner of the Haile Selassie I Prize for Fine Arts. His solo exhibitions were held in the Soviet Union three times, in 1961 and 1980, and in 1983 he became the first African artist to be named an honorary member of the USSR Academy of Arts. In 1997 he won first prize at the Aquitaine Biennale in France and was elected a member of the French International Academy of Arts.