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Details
- Other Titles
- Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
Solomon and the Queen of the South - Place where the work was made
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Ethiopia
- Date
- 1941
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on shama (cotton cloth) on masonite board
- Dimensions
- 88.4 x 176.7 cm sight; 94.8 x 183.7 x 1.9 cm frame
- Signature & date
Signed and dated [in Amharic] in black oil, l.l. corner "...in 1933 [Ethiopian era 1941].../...Balatchaw Damar[sic]".
- Credit
- Gift of Mr George Sandwith FRGS 1955
- Location
- South Building, ground level, Grand Courts
- Accession number
- 9159
- Copyright
- © The Estate of the Artist
- Artist information
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Belachew Yimer
Works in the collection
- Share
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Exhibition history
Shown in 3 exhibitions
Purchases and Acquisitions for 1955, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 09 Feb 1956–29 Feb 1956
Ethiopian Art from the Art Gallery of New South Wales Collection, Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle, 20 Nov 1963–24 Dec 1963
Ethiopian Art from the Art Gallery of New South Wales Collection, Mildura Arts Centre, Mildura, 07 Mar 1965–28 Mar 1965
Grand Courts collection rehang, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Nov 2021–2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 9 publications
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Ken Brock (Editor), The Newcastle sun, Newcastle, 21 Nov 1963, illus np.
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Girma Fisseha, Ethiopia in broader perspective. Papers of the XIIIth international conference of Ethiopian studies; vol III, "The Belachews – an Ethiopian family of artists and their links with Japan", Kyoto, 1997, pp 316–33: p 318.
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Anne Gérard-Austi, Look, 'A visit from a legend', Sydney, Dec 2021-Jan 2022, pp 50–51: p 50, col illus p 50.
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Richard Pankhurst, Ethiopia observer, vol 10, no 1, 'Some notes for a history of Ethiopian secular art', 1966, pp 5–80: pp 43, 73, illus p 72.
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Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales trustees' minutes 1954, Sydney, 24 Sep 1954, p 4073.
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Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales trustees' minutes 1955, Sydney, 25 Nov 1955, p 8.
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Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales trustees' minutes 1971, 27 Aug 1971, pp 4–5: p 5.
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Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales trustees' minutes 1971, Sydney, 23 Jul 1971, pp 7494–95.
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Newcastle morning herald & miners' advocate, Newcastle, 21 Nov 1963, np.
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Provenance
George Sandwith, circa 1941-1955, England, Gift of Mr George Sandwith 1955. During the Italian occupation of Ethiopia (1936-1941), Sandwith served with the East African Forces. He was sent on expedition to Addis Ababa in 1941 were he met Belachew Yimer. Over a period of two years Belachew produced various paintings several at the request of Sandwith. On his departure, Sandwith took with him a total of seventeen paintings by the artist, including both contemporary and earlier dated works. 'Solomon and the Queen of the South' was one of these seventeen paintings. Sandwith on his return to London had all works photographed and mounted at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Records state that Sandwith's attempts at finding a suitable institution in the United Kingdom for these works was unsuccessful. Although the details of the acquisition are unknown, it is likely that Sandwith commissioned Belachew to paint this representation of the popular theme of the Queen of Sheba.
