SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Wosene Worke Kosrof, born in Addis Ababa in 1950, trained at his city’s fine arts school and earned an MFA at Howard University in 1980. His work centres on characters from Amharic script, transforming them into pictorial forms rather than messages to decipher.
Elongated, fragmented or recomposed, the characters interact with textile and architectural motifs across vividly coloured surfaces. Jazz informs their rhythms and the intervals between forms. The Color of Words exemplifies this exploration of language as visual experience. The artist also makes assemblages and mixed-media works, including on goatskin. His work is held by Washington’s National Museum of African Art and Zurich’s ethnographic museum. My Ethiopia was presented at the Neuberger Museum and subsequently the Newark Museum in 2003–2004.
This profile brings together identity references for Wosene Worke Kosrof and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
Schuler
References include catalogue entries and available results; they do not all represent completed sales. Attributed works and special lots are excluded from the priced results.
Acrylic on canvas
Woman of the Nile
Acryl auf Leinwand
Catalogue period : 2020-12-11
Published result : 7000 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 7000–9000
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Mixed media on wood
Eclipse of the Moon
Mischtechnik auf Holz
Catalogue period : 2020-09-18
Published result : 4500 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 4000–6000
View the lot at the auction house ↗
Acrylic on canvas
Woman of the Nile
Acryl auf Leinwand
Catalogue period : 2020-09-18
Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed
Estimate : CHF 10000–15000
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
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