The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 8, 2026

A vertically oriented mixed media construction on bamboo, painted in bright red, yellow, and blue, consists of three panels joined by dark rods. Stacked rows of symbols are crowned by sun and moon faces. On the left, stick figures hunt with bows. The center panel depicts a figure with a heart on their chest. The right panel includes alphabet letters above seated figures and a small screen at the bottom.

ABC

1993

Zerihun Yetmgeta

(Ethiopian, b. 1941)
Ethiopia, 20th century
mixed media on bamboo
Overall: 104.8 x 41.3 x 3.8 cm (41 1/4 x 16 1/4 x 1 1/2 in.)
Gift of Raymond A. Silverman 2025.150
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The artwork of Zerihun Yetmgeta can also be seen at the Ethiopian Cultural Garden in Cleveland, a short walk from the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Description

ABC evokes healing scrolls from Ethiopia, as well as Ethiopian architecture, art, and language. Such parchment scrolls use text and images to protect against sickness, the evil eye, or other misfortune. This scroll-inspired format is a unique innovation of the artist, transforming weavers' reeds (used to align threads) covered in hide into his canvas. The work is divided into three registers painted in shades of red, yellow, blue, and green; these saturated tones reflect historical Ethiopian Christian painting. The iconography on each register draws both from millennia of historical Ethiopian arts and from present-day observations of everyday life.
  • 1993–2025
    Commissioned for Dr. Raymond Silverman
    2025
    The Cleveland Museum of Art
  • {{cite web|title=ABC|url=false|author=Zerihun Yetmgeta|year=1993|access-date=08 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2025.150