Alexander Boghossian

Alexander "Skunder" Boghossian (1937 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – May 4, 2003) was an Ethiopian-Armenian painter.

Boghossian won second prize at the Jubilee Anniversary Celebration of Haile Selassie I in 1954; the next year he was granted a scholarship which allowed him to study in Europe. He spent two years in London, working at St. Martin's School, the Central School, and the Slade School. He then spent nine years studying and teaching at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. In 1966 he returned home, teaching at Addis Ababa's School of Fine Arts until 1969. In 1970 he emigrated to the United States, teaching at Howard University from 1972 until 2001. Boghossian was the first contemporary African artist to have his work purchased by the Museum of Modern Art; his paintings are also in the collections of the National Museum of African Art in Washington, DC.

Boghossian died in 2003.

References

* [http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/passages/boghossian.html Biographical sketch]