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Gebre Kristos Desta, the painter-poet, was born in 1932
in the Eastern province of Harar, Ethiopia, to father
Aleka Desta, a clergyman, and mother W/o Atsede Mariam
Wondimagegnehu. Gebre Kristos completed his elementary
education in his native town of Harar, and attended the
Haile Sellassie 1st School and General Wingate High School.
He later joined the Science Department at Haile Sellassie
1st University, presently Addis Ababa University. Gebre
Kristos did not pursue a career in his field of study,
scientific agriculture, but instead studied art and painted
in his spare time. Initially, Gebre Kristos was a self-taught
artist, but in his sophomore year, his predilection for
art won out, and Gebre Kristos abandoned his studies in
hope of becoming a full-time artist.
In
between his departure from the University and his trip
abroad to study art, Gebre Kristos worked for several
agencies, including the Soil Analysis Chemical Laboratory
of the Imperial Ethiopian Government, the Highway Authority
and as an engineer at the Alidade and Map Charting section
in the Geological Department of the State Bank of Ethiopia.
Gebre Kristos, renowned as an instructor, held his first
teaching position during this time, at the Sebestie Negasie
Elementary School, as an English, Geography, and General
Science Teacher. He was also appointed to illustrate children’s
books as a U.S. Government sponsored program then known
as the Point of
Four
Education. Soon after this first professional job as an
artist, Gebre Kristos left for Germany to study art in
depth.
From
1957 to 1961, Gebre Kristos studied at the Werschule fur
Bildende Kunste und Gestaltung, an art school in Cologne,
West Germany. It was here that he was introduced to abstract
art, which would later become his specialty. Gebre Kristos
excelled at his studies, majoring in painting and graphic
art, and graduated at the top of his class. After graduation
from the Cologne Art Academy, he held his first one-man
exhibition at the Gallery Kuppeers, Cologne. The show
encompassed a year of work, and made an extensive six
month tour of Western Europe.
In
1962, Gebre Kristos returned back to his homeland Ethiopia
to introduce his newly adopted style, abstract expressionism.
Confronted with the task of introducing modern art into
a culture still steeped in traditionalism, Gebre Kristos
faced censure and criticism for abandoning more conventional
Ethiopian styles. He held a one-man show at the School
of Fine Arts in 1963, where he was also a member of the
faculty, and his work was received with mixed reactions.
Despite frequent sharp criticism, Gebre Kristos continued
to teach and create art at the School of Fine Art in Addis
Ababa. In 1965, he won the Haile Sellassie 1st prize Trust
Award in Fine Arts, and gained official recognition for
his innovative and unique style. The poetry of Gebre Kristos
is as equally brilliant and original as his visual work.
As one of Ethiopia’s first contemporary poets, his
written pieces present a different approach from that
of the customary fare, and break from tradition by introducing
new rhythms.
Gebre
Kristos served in an ambassadorial capacity, heading cultural
delegates and traveling with touring Ethiopian art exhibitions
in Europe. In 1967, he was invited to exhibit his works
and to visit important museums, artistic, and historic
sites in the USSR. The same year he visited and exhibited
his works in Czechoslovakia by invitation of that government.
The Federal Republic of West Germany invited Gebre Kristos
to present his pieces in 1970, as well as visit and endorse
important places of art interest. Also in 1970, on the
occasion of expanding higher education in Ethiopia, Gebre
Kristos was invited by the National University Alumni
Association to exhibit his works at the Kennedy Memorial
Library in Addis Ababa. The following year, the Ministry
of Education and Fine Arts awarded Gebre Kristos “Best
Teacher of the Year” in recognition with his superb
efforts as an instructor at the University of Addis Ababa.
A similar honor was bestowed upon him by the office of
Addis Ababa schools in 1972. The same year, the U.S. Department
of State invited him to visit as well as exhibit work
in the United States of America. Two years later the Government
of India extended a similar invitation to Gebre Kristos,
both for exhibition of pieces and to visit historical
art landmarks in the country.
During
the Derg era, Gebre Kristos was forced to be involved
in producing visual propaganda materials, and also served
in the Zamacha campaign as an art expert. Upon his return
from Zamacha, he was awarded a certificate and a gold
medal. Several studies of his experiences and observations
were included as part of a retrospective exhibition that
was held in 1976-77. In 1976, Gebre Kristos was invited
by the Municipality of Addis Ababa to start the first
government sponsored gallery in Ethiopia, known as the
City Hall Gallery. Two years later Gebre Kristos participated
in a workshop and exhibited work at the Pa Ya Pa Gallery
in Kenya. Dissatisfied with the government’s policy
and it's negative impact on art, Gebre Kristos left for
West Germany. Denied asylum by the German government,
Gebre Kristos was forced to become a refugee and immigrated
to the United States with the help of a Catholic church
in Lawton, Oklahoma.
After
his arrival to the U.S. in 1980, Gebre Kristos lived in
a one room apartment where he began to work on small scale
stills. He continued to teach, at a local YMCA and high
school. Gebre Kristos held one man show in the U.S., which
featured works both in retrospective and those that focused
on his new life. Gebre Kristos suddenly took ill and died
in 1981, at the early age of 49.
Source: Article from the 4th Annual Blen Art
Show. http://www.blenartshow.com/fourth/honorary.htm
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