Collections by Name | Collections by Region

Ethiopian Material Culture Collection

A major research project on the material culture of Ethiopia, led by Dr. Raymond Silverman, former curator of African visual culture and professor of art history at Michigan State University in the early 1990s, yielded the largest documented collection of contemporary Ethiopian art and craft in the United States. Working with Dr. Neal Sobania, Professor, Hope College (Michigan), and a team of researchers in Ethiopia, Silverman commissioned and collected several hundred artifacts that represent individual artists whose work is representative of several of Ethiopia's diverse ethnic, religious, and cultural groups. Included in the collections are ceramics, silver jewelry, basketry containers, paintings on wood and cloth, wood carvings, textiles, and the tools and materials used in the creation of these items. In addition, the collection includes color and black & white photographs and 50+ hours of videotape that document of the processes used to produced the collected objects, and videotaped and audiotaped interviews with artists.

Donors and Fieldworkers

Dr. Raymond Silverman, Dr. Neal Sobania, Dr. Jon Abbink, Dr. Marco Bassi, Doris Neilson, Elisabeth Biasio, Girma Fisseha, Dr. Alula Pankhurst, Worku Nida, Dr. Tsehai Berhane-Selassie

Exhibitions

"African Connections: Perspectives on Collecting Culture," Michigan State University Museum, East Lansing, Michigan, Jan. 31 - Sept. 5, 1999.

Raymond A. Silverman. "African Connections Perspectives on Collecting Culture," [virtual exhibition]  (Jan. 6, 2003).

Raymond A. Silverman. "Ethiopia: Traditions of Creativity," [virtual exhibition] (Sept. 24th, 1998)

"Ethiopia: Traditions of Creativity," Michigan State University Museum, East Lansing, Michigan, July 24 - December 16, 1994; Dillard University Art Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana, September 8 - December 8, 1995. 

Publications

Raymond A. Silverman. Ethiopia: Traditions of Creativity [Artist Profiles]. East Lansing: Michigan State University Museum, 1994.

Raymond A. Silverman. ed. Ethiopian Traditions of Creativity. University of Washington Press and Michigan State University Museum, 1999.

Milk container, Ethiopia

Ceramic jug, Ethiopia

Mesob table basket, Ethiopia

Triptych altar painting, woodwork by Belai Tedla, painting by Amaha Gebre Medin, Axum, Ethiopia