Adamu Tesfaw

Adamu Tesfaw (born about 1930) is an Ethiopian artist. Raised in Bichenu in Gojjam province, Tesfaw was educated as a priest in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. In the late 1950s Tesfaw moved to Addis Ababa to pursue painting as a career, ultimately leaving the priesthood. There he had the help of his godfather Yohannes Tessema, a successful commercial artist. Tesfaw sold paintings through his godfather, and later through several souvenir shops in Addis Ababa.

Tesfaw produces large paintings on cloth of scenes of Ethiopian culture and history, and also religious art in the Ethiopian Orthodox tradition.

His work has been featured in a number of showings of Ethiopian art overseas, and the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History organized a touring exhibition of his work in 2004 (scheduled to continue into 2007 as of late 2006). In 2004 he also appeared on a popular Ethiopian TV program, “Meto Haya”.

His name

Tesfaw is sometimes referred to as "Qes Adamu Tesfaw"; "Qes" is an honorific for priests in the Ethiopian Orthodox tradition.

Books on Tesfaw

*"Painting Ethiopia: The Life And Work Of Qes Adamu Tesfaw", University of California Los Angeles, Fowler (June 2005)

External links

* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0438/is_3_37/ai_n9488760 article on Tesfaw]
* [http://www.h-net.org/~etoc/Pages/adamu_bio.html autobiography]