Envisioning Ethiopia through the Ages at the Peabody Essex Museum

Ethiopia at the Crossroads is the new exhibition now at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Mass., though it’s organized jointly by the Peabody, the Walters Art Gallery, and the Toledo Museum of Art. Each has a history of collecting art from Ethiopia — that exotic, pivotal place very much at the intersection of ideologies, religions, trade, and empires. It’s a difficult exhibition but rewarding if you stick with it and skim its dead spots, tangents, and weird jump into the realm of living artists. The show and its catalogue are, taken together, essential in thinking about this place of wonders.

The PEM is one of my favorite museums and a unique trove. It’s in Salem, so prepare for a bewitching, but in its heyday around 200 years ago, it was the center of business with China and Japan. Lots of money and art accrued. It has a new strategic plan and, sad to say, made an ugly, sour hash from its new mix of its superb colonial and Federal art collection, its Hudson River School works, its Modernist art, Native American art, and contemporary African-American art.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

Ethiopia at the Crossroads is the new exhibition now at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Mass., though it’s organized jointly by the Peabody, the Walters Art Gallery, and the Toledo Museum of Art. Each has a history of collecting art from Ethiopia — that exotic, pivotal place very much at the intersection of ideologies, religions, trade, and empires. It’s a difficult exhibition but rewarding if you stick with it and skim its dead spots, tangents, and weird jump into the realm of living artists. The show and its catalogue are, taken together, essential in thinking about this place of wonders.

The PEM is one of my favorite museums and a unique trove. It’s in Salem, so prepare for a bewitching, but in its heyday around 200 years ago, it was the center of business with China and Japan. Lots of money and art accrued. It has a new strategic plan and, sad to say, made an ugly, sour hash from its new mix of its superb colonial and Federal art collection, its Hudson River School works, its Modernist art, Native American art, and contemporary African-American art.