Ethiopia and the Art of Cross-Cultural Exchange

Unidentified artist, Folding Processional Icon in the Shape of a Fan, Ethiopia (Gundä Gunde), late 15th century. Museum purchase with funds provided by the W. Alton Jones Foundation Acquisition Fund, 1996. The Walters Art Museum.

Join us for a lecture with Christine Sciacca on February 21 at 4:30pm.

A reception will follow the lecture.
This event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP HERE.

Ethiopia sits at the juncture of Africa, Asia, and Europe, and historically it had access to the Mediterranean Sea, the Nile River, the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean. Its situation at the nexus of travel and trade routes resulted in cultural cross-currents between Ethiopia and its surrounding cultures. In this lecture, Christine Sciacca, Curator of European Art, 300-1400 CE at the Walters Art Museum, will discuss the current exhibit, Ethiopia at the Crossroads, which celebrates the exchanges that took place and the impact of Ethiopian artistic traditions from their origins to the present day.

Christine Sciacca is Curator of European Art, 300-1400 CE at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. She received her Ph.D., M.Phil., and M.A. in Art History from Columbia University, and a B.A. in Art History from Cornell University. Christine was a curator of illuminated manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum for ten years, and she has worked at The Met Cloisters and The British Library. Her research concentrates on Italian, German, and Ethiopian medieval art, with a focus on liturgy, devotional practice, and patronage. Christine’s book publications include Building the Medieval World, Illuminating Women in the Medieval World, and Florence at the Dawn of the Renaissance: Painting and Illumination, 1300-1350. Her exhibition, Ethiopia at the Crossroads, is currently on view at the Walters Art Museum until March 3, and will travel to the Peabody Essex Museum, and the Toledo Museum of Art.