Skunder Boghossian

Alexander 'Skunder' Boghossian was born on July 22, 1937, in Addis Ababa to an Armenian father and Ethiopian mother. Winning second prize at the Jubilee National Exhibition at age seventeen, he earned a scholarship to London and Paris, studying at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere.

In Paris, Boghossian was influenced by the Negritude movement and surrealists Andre Breton and Wifredo Lam. In 1965, his monumental canvas Juju's Wedding was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, followed by acquisitions by the Musee d'Art Moderne in Paris. Moving to the United States in 1972, he taught at Howard University for three decades, influencing generations of Pan-African artists.