A Chronology of 20th Century Ethiopian Art 1980 YIGEZU Style, which incorporates gothic styles, is coined by the Addis Ababa Fine Arts School art history students as a tribute to the late Yigezu Bisrat.   1980 Addis Ababa Fine Arts School and the Alliance Française of Dire Dawa organize a week-long exhibition of paintings, propaganda posters and other graphic works in the hallway of Dire Dawa Alliance Française. Armed forces personnel are given the afternoon off in order to attend the opening of the exhibition.   1980 The Hero Center at Debre Zeit officially opens. It contains works by several prominent artists. Contributors include Afewerk Tekle, Ale Felege Selam , Besrat Bekele, Daniel Touafe, Bekel Abebe, Kidane Belaye, and Demissie Sheferaw,   1980 Assefa Yeshewa Work finishes his concrete sculpture, OUR STRUGGLE IS FOR PEACE, which is subsequently erected at the Police College.   1980 The Ministry of Culture and Sports Affairs sponsors a retrospective of Esseye Gebre Medhin at the Addis Ababa City Hall gallery. The show includes works he has painted after 1968.   1981 The Addis Ababa Fine Arts School changes admission requirements, and offers only a four-year course. It will accept applicants only from junior high schools. Previously, students were accepted from eight grades after passing a five-week entrance course, though most were high school graduates.   1981 In the closing ceremony of THREE ETHIOPIAN ARTITS, Assefa Yeshewa Work, Essayas Sahelu and Esseye G Medhin exhibition at the Addis Ababa City Hall Gallery, attended by several artists including Maitre Artists Afewerk Tekle, author Mengistu Lema , the museum director Mamo Tessema and playwright and director Abate Mekuria, Esseye Gebre Medhin presents a painting entitled THE POET'S MESSAGE (tribute to the late poet Yohannes Admasu) to famous poet Tsegaye Gebre Medhin. Tsegaye in turn donates the work to the museum director for the museum's collection. The Subject matter of the painting being controversial, the work never makes it to the museum.   1981 Ethiopian businessman Abbi Solomme commissioned Assefa Yeshewa Work to create sculptures of two sport legends, ABEBE BIKELA and SOLOMON TESSEMA.   1981 Mulugeta Tafesse's first solo exhibition at the Alliance Ethio-Française, Addis Ababa.   1982 Tadesse Belaineh sculpts a model for THE REVOLUTIONARY, to be used as a study for a monumental sculpture.   1982 A Fine Arts Seminar is held at Addis Ababa Municipal Hall. An art exhibition is opened on this occasion.   1983 Bekele Abebe completes UNITY, in plaster. It is subsequently purchased by the National Museum.   1983 Bekele Mekonnen completes ETHIOPIA TIKDEM, a sculptor in concrete.   1984 Night school starts at the Addis Ababa Fine Arts School. Adults from all walks of life register for classes. Students receive a certificate after successfully completing the two-year course.   1984 Taye Tadesse publishes part one of Short biographies of some Ethiopian artists 1869-1957; part two and the revised edition of part one follows in 1991. It is the first of its kind in the annals of Ethiopian art history.   1984 The Addis Ababa Fine Arts School has an exhibition on the occasion of its Silver Jubilee.   1985 Zerihun Yetmgeta paints, ILLUMINATION. It is created on sheep skin, and features mythological birds and animals, traditional artifacts, magic scrolls, talisman figures, religious symbols and African masks.   1985 Girma Mekonnen's first solo exhibition is held at the Alliance Ethio-Française, Addis Ababa.   1986 The United Ethiopian Artists Association is reorganized to reflect the political realities of the country. Invited artists from all corners of the country meet at the Addis Ababa University annex, the former German School auditorium. The participants overwhelmingly nominate Afewerk Tekle, Ale Felge Selam, Daniel Touafe and others for the office. However, the Workers Party of Ethiopia screens the nomination and appoints, as in most other professional organizations, party sympathizers or members. Abdurahman M Sherif becomes the president.   1986 Terefe Debebe's first solo exhibition is held at the Alliance Ethio-Française, Addis Ababa. Terefe, who has missed years of study while in prison during the Derg, is among the few artists to show a total deviation from socialist realism painting.   1986 The Ethiopian Workers Party plans to design a new Ethiopian flag. They form a committee of intellectuals and art historians to evaluate more than one hundred designs by the country's most distinguished artists. Although the requirements are given to the participating artists, the resulting designs are not deemed satisfactory by the bureau chiefs, who initiated their own design and then ordered one of the artists to execute it.   1986 The home of Ras Biru Habte Gebriel located off the Bole Road becomes the Addis Ababa Museum.   1986 Tadesse Wolde Aregaye's first solo exhibition is held at the Alliance Ethio-Française, Addis Ababa. He uses the style of Ethiopian church painting, to effectively communicate with his audience.   1986 Tadesse Mesfin designs costumes and sets for PEOPLE TO PEOPLE ETHIOPIA, An Adey Abeba folk-lore group.   1987 Senafkish Zeleke's first solo exhibition is held at the Alliance Ethio-Française, Addis Ababa.   1987 A group exhibition is organized at National Museum on the occasion of the establishment of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. It includes more than 150 works, from prehistoric times to the present day. Prehistoric art works are exhibited in plaster casts and photographs.   1987 Behailu Bezabih's first solo exhibition is held at Goethe Institute, Addis Ababa.   1987 Richard Pankhurst publishes a book on the life and works of Maiter artist Afewerk Tekle.   1988 Afewerk Tekle paints THE NEW ETHIOPIA. This is one of the many versions of the subject that he has produced since his school days in the 1950s.   1988 Lema Tesfa paints TIME AND KNOWLEDGE.   1988 The Addis Ababa University Cultural Center sponsors THE WELL KNOWN ETHIOPIAN ARTISTS art exhibition. All 20 participants, except Afewerk Tekle, Daniel Touafe and Bisrat Bekele, are former students of the Addis Ababa Fine Arts School. According to Zerihun Yetmgeta, a participant and organizer of the exhibition, one of the objectives of the show is to give the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Organization of African Unity a special flavor. Five paintings by Maitre artist Afewerk Tekle are entitled AFRICAN HERITAGE, and deal with Africa and African unity.   1988 Lulseged Retta's first solo exhibition is held at the Alliance Ethio-Françasie, Addis Ababa.   1989 Getachew Yossef paints ARAYA-FOR BEAR, the portrait of poet Tsegaye Gebre Medhin.