CHRONOLOGY —
1950
Born Wosene Kosrof in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
1967-72
Studies at School of Fine Arts (SFA), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Begins study of lettering and script, integrating Ethiopian cultural traditions and writing into paintings.
Graduates with distinction from SFA. Paintings included in New York exhibition Africa Creates '72.
1973
First solo exhibition at Belvedere Gallery, Addis Ababa, where he hears jazz by Duke Ellington for the first time. Jazz becomes a major influence in his painting process.
1974
National Museum of Ethiopia purchases painting.
1975-76
Invited to teach at SFA as first alumnus faculty member. Exhibits widely in Addis Ababa.
1977
Leaves Ethiopia for Nairobi, Kenya, and exhibits at Paa Ya Paa Gallery. Receives invitation to exhibit paintings in group show at Elan Gallery, Bethesda, MD.
1978
Arrives in New York, NY. Travels to Washington, DC and settles there among largest expatriate Ethiopian community in the US.
Begins MFA studies in studio painting as Ford Foundation Talent Scholar at Howard University, Washington, DC.
1979
Advisor/mentor, Jeff Donaldson (Dean of College of Fine Arts) influences direction of work by urging further experimentation with Amharic calligraphy in painting.
1980
Completes MFA at Howard University. Begins series Graffiti Magic.
1984-85
First art colony residency at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sweetbriar, VA.
Moves to Plainfield, VT. Teaches undergraduate and graduate students at Goddard College.
1986
United Nations commissions painting that becomes stamp for UN campaign Africa in Crisis.
Begins series of sculptures with wood, nails, soda cans, and found objects, entitled Lucy (Dinqnesh); title of series refers to the 3.2 million-year-old skeleton found in Ethiopia's Afar Valley in 1974.
First solo exhibit at AVA Gallery, Hanover, NH.
1987
First solo exhibition from series Graffiti Magic at Howard University, Washington, DC.
1988
United Nations again commissions painting. Both paintings are now in UN permanent collection.
Begins second major series of paintings Africa: The New Alphabet.
1989-90
Solo exhibits of works from new series at Woodstock Gallery, Woodstock, VT.
1991
Relocates to Northern California.
1992
Selected to participate in major juried exhibition at Crocker Museum, Sacramento, CA.
Völkerkunde Museum, Zürich, Switzerland purchases Abyssinian Palm Reader.
1993
Begins creating mixed media works with wood, goatskin/parchment, sheet metal, nails, soda cans, credit cards.
Meets Lori Austin, director of Spirits in Stone Galleries, and exhibits works in company's California galleries from 1993 to the present.
Exhibits with Bomani Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
1995
Moves to Berkeley, CA and begins working in Oakland, CA studio.
Starts new series Color of Words.
First exhibition at Hoshigaoka Gallery, Kochi, Japan.
Works included in "Seven Stories about Modern Art in Africa" at London's Whitechapel Gallery.
Visits Ethiopia for the first time since leaving in 1977. Exhibits and lectures at Alliance Française, Addis Ababa.
1996
Invited as first contemporary African artist to month-long residency at Rockefeller Center in Bellagio, Italy.
Inspired by Michelangelo 'liberating prisoners' from stone at Accademia in Florence; experiments with ways to 'visually liberate' Amharic language symbols from confines of linguistic meaning.
Second visit to Ethiopia; major solo exhibition at Saba Alene's St. George Gallery, Addis Ababa.
1999
Indianapolis Museum of Art purchases Inside the Museum of African Art.
First exhibition at Stella Jones Gallery, New Orleans, LA.
2000
Solo exhibition at Parish Gallery, Washington, DC.
National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, purchases
The Preacher III for its permanent collection.
2001
Solo exhibition at Folkens Museum Etnografiska, Stockholm, Sweden.
2002
Solo exhibition at Skoto Gallery, New York, NY; exhibition reviewed by Holland Cotter in The New York Times.
2003
Paintings included in first major exhibition of contemporary Ethiopian art "Ethiopian Passages: Dialogues in the Diaspora" at Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC.
"My Ethiopia: Recent Paintings by Wosene Worke Kosrof," an exhibition jointly organized by the Neuberger Museum of art, Purchase, NY, and The Newark Museum, opens in Purchase, NY; exhibition catalogue produced. Exhibition travels to The Newark Museum, NJ.
Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY, purchases Woman of Words for its permanent collection.
Solo exhibition at Galería Botello, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
2004
Exhibition opens at The Newark Museum, NJ; reviewed in The New York Times by Holland Cotter.
The Newark Museum, NJ, purchases Berkeley III for its permanent collection.
Works included in group exhibition at Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA.
Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation's Biennial Poetry Festival uses painting Words of Memory as festival poster.
Artist invited to lecture at The Newark Museum, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, and Clark University, Worcester, MA.
2005
Lectures at Columbia College, Chicago, IL.
Invited to participate in UNESCO Symposium on Art Education, Newark, NJ; contributes essay "The Pleasures and Dangers of Learning to See" to Symposium proceedings.
2006
Major solo exhibition at Mexican Heritage Museum, San Jose, CA, co-curated by Stanford professor of art history, Bárbaro Martínez-Ruíz, PhD, and professor of museum studies, Allyson Purpura, PhD. Exhibition catalogue produced.
Exhibition at Pan American Art Gallery, Dallas, TX.
Samuel P. Harn Museum, University of Florida at Gainesville, acquires painting for its permanent collection.
2007
Paintings included in major group exhibition "Inscribing Meaning" that opens at Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC.
"Inscribing Meaning" opens at Fowler Museum, Los Angeles, CA.
Fowler Museum (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, purchases Ethiopia: Where It All Begins for its permanent collection.
Birmingham Museum of Art purchases Words of Justice for its permanent collection. Lectures at Museum.
Invited to lecture at the Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI, and at Fowler Museum, Los Angeles, CA.
Solo exhibitions at Guilford College Gallery of Art, Greensboro, NC; Addis Art, Los Angeles, CA; and Madelyn Jordon Fine Art, Scarsdale, NY.
2008
First solo exhibition at Mason Murer Gallery, Atlanta, GA.
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