Written by ARTHUR DEBSI

Born in 1934 in Marrakech, Morocco, Farid Belkahia belonged to a wealthy, francophone, and Francophile family. His father, M’Hamed Belkahia worked as a civil servant in Civil Control during the French protectorate. He was also part of the Western intellectual, and artistic circles established in the country, frequenting figures like the French artist Nicolas de Staël (1914-19955)^[1]. Thus, the young Belkahia early familiarized himself with art, and showed an interest in it to the extent that he produced some oil on canvas portraits at the age of 15 years old^[2], with a remarkable Expressionist style. In 1950, alongside the Moroccan artist Moulay Ahmed Drissi (1924-1973), he attended the atelier of the Polish painter Olek Teslar (1900-1952). Yet, his father strictly refused his son to pursue an artistic career, wishing him to study agricultural engineering^[3]. Yearning for freedom, he left the house, and went to Ourzazate, where he was a schoolteacher between 1953 and 1954. In 1955, he moved to France, and enrolled in the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, but couldn’t comply with the academic and strict teaching that was provided by the establishment. He consequently joined the atelier of the French painter Raymond Legueult (1898-1971), who would give him more freedom in his artistic practice. In parallel, the student felt this feeling of reconnecting with his roots, and history. He traveled all around the Middle East, visiting Egypt, Baghdad, and Jerusalem, and discovered the richness of Arab, and pre-Islamic cultures. Later on, he decided to both experience life in a communist country, and to acquire deeper knowledge of cinema – a passion that he embraced while living in Paris^[4]. In 1959, he went to Prague, Czech Republic, and took courses in scenography at the Prague Theatre Academy. Yet, he returned to Morocco, where he was appointed head of the École des Beaux-Arts in Casablanca in 1962, by Mahjoub Benseddik (1922-2010), the general secretary of the Moroccan Worker’s Union.

Since his childhood, Farid Belkahia was a good sportsman, and even considered athleticism as a career. In 1955, he participated in the 5^th edition of the World Festival of Youth and Students in Warsaw, Poland, where he ran along with the famous Czechoslovak athlete Emil Zátopek (1922-2000)^[5].

Directed by Maurice Arama (1934-) from 1960 to 1962, the École des Beaux-Arts in Casablanca was founded under the French occupation in 1950^[6], and frequented by European students^[7]. In 1956, Morocco got independence, and arts played an intricate role in shaping, and asserting the national identity of the country, rich and multicultural. When he took his position as director of the establishment, Farid Belkahia firstly wanted to renovate the educational system and its programs, by giving another approach of teaching plastic art. He insisted on an experimental method, and changed the existing French oriented courses, in order to enhance the Moroccan artistic heritage. He stated: ‘the teaching of discipline [plastic art] must not be done out of certain automatism solely because of the tradition of teaching this material in Europe. (…) Our students are also ignorant of all our plastic art traditions, even though they are an integral part of our culture’^[8]. At that time, many Moroccan artists such as Mohamed Chebaa (1935-2013), Mohamed Melehi (1936-2020), and Mohammed Hamidi (1941-), had finished their studies abroad, and successively came to teach at the school. Then, the students could follow specific classes in traditional arts like tapestry, pottery, and Islamic architecture^[9].

The oeuvre of Farid Belkahia perfectly embodies this transition, and elaboration of modern Moroccan art, detached from academism, as well as freed from the colonial thought. This is effectively a combination between the search for the origins, and the desire of experimentation. The artist aimed to conciliate the handicraft, with plastic arts: ‘In our country, the industrial production of objects (to take just one example) was originally, artisanal. But with the evolution of modern industrial production, no effort was made to improve the form and quality of the object. (…) The artist can fill this void’^[10]. As of the 1970s, Belkahia abandoned the Western conventional techniques like the canvas, and the oil painting^[11]. He started using peculiar materials that are part of the Moroccan traditional craft, and especially from the berbere culture. In the imposing art piece Patchwork Culturel (1979), present in the Dalloul Art Foundation’s collection, the artist worked on leather, and with henna, which respectively symbolize a primitive raw medium, and a colorful product. These typical materials also have a sensory value, as Belkahia recalled: ‘the henna, the skin, those are my memories, my grand-mother, the environment I grew up in, the smells that I know…’^[12]. The technique celebrates the local habits, and customs, as well as the wide range of symbols that he employed. In the bottom center, he drew a hand tattooed with henna – a recurrent in his art, that indicates the ‘memory of man’^[13]. Moreover, he integrated tifinaghs signs, which are used to write the Tamazight languages, which are spoken by the Berbers from North Africa^[14].

The strength of the symbols, or the signs, is omnipresent in Farid Belkahia’s reflection towards the quest of origins. He was highly interested in the geometric forms such as the square, the triangle, and the circle, and revealed the multiple interpretations hidden behind them. They are manipulated as universal elements, which surpass the material reality, and materialize the process of creation itself. In the example called Force invisible (1984), also part of the Dalloul Art Foundation’s collection, the painter made a black triangle coming out of the ground. Recalling a mountain, this motif links the earth and the heaven together. Hence, the triangular represents the image of a spiritual elevation of the human. On top of the triangle, two narrows intertwin, and moves to different directions like snakes. The curving lines create a dynamic rhythm, which gives intensity and vibrations to the composition. The artist attended some ceremonies in Morocco, particularly within the African gnawa tribes, and discovered the phenomenon of trance^[15]. From this experience, he associated these motions of the body in a trance, with man who is abstract in nature^[16].

In the Dalloul Art Foundation’s collection, a series of artworks entitled L’Arbre à Palabres from 2010, demonstrates another key theme, that Farid Belkahia liked to tackle: the tree. In a two-dimensional drawing, he depicted it with a palette of cool colors, and simplified lines, sometimes including tifinaghs signs in the foliage. It is noticeable that the trunk is always in a vertical position, whereas the roots, and branches are very stylized. The motif of the tree is often related to the notion of regeneration, like a repetitive cycle, which invites the viewer to the meditation. It illustrates a state of self-reflectiveness, that the artist associates to the human nature^[17].

Farid Belkahia always placed man at the heart of his oeuvre. He conducted research on the relationship between Man and his past, and his culture; through a detailed analytical work of memory. With this rich iconographic vocabulary, the artist delved into the distant origins, involving various historical references. The transmission, and the perpetuation of the traditions – artistic, or social –, on which he shed light, appears to be the way towards self-knowledge. ‘Tradition is the future of mankind’^[18], as he said.

Farid Belkahia passed away in Marrakech in 2014.

Notes

[1] Benchemsi, Rajae, Jean Hubert. Martin, and Farid Belkahia. Farid Belkahia. Casablanca, Morocco: Venise Cadre, 2010. [P.236]

[2] Benchemsi, Rajae, and Farid Belkahia. Farid Belkahia. Milano, Italy: Skira, 2013. [P.236]

[3] “Fondation Farid Belkahia.” La Fondation Farid Belkahia. Accessed June 8, 2020. http://fondationfaridbelkahia.com/.

[4] Benchemsi, Rajae, Jean Hubert. Martin, and Farid Belkahia. Farid Belkahia. Casablanca, Morocco: Venise Cadre, 2010. [P.239]

[5] Benchemsi, Rajae, Jean Hubert. Martin, and Farid Belkahia. Farid Belkahia. Casablanca, Morocco: Venise Cadre, 2010. [P.236]

[6] Powers, Jean Holiday. “Published.” Casablanca School - Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism, 2016. https://www.rem.routledge.com/articles/casablanca-school.

[7] Lakrissa, Fatima Zahra. “École Des Beaux-Arts De Casablanca (1964–1970) - Articles.” bauhaus imaginista. Accessed June 10, 2020. http://www.bauhaus-imaginista.org/articles/2413/e-cole-des-beaux-arts-de-casablanca-1964-1970?0bbf55ceffc3073699d40c945ada9faf=ppq3kadfmlm2tm02ime94tk3q0.

[8] Farid Belkahia in response to the Artists’ Questionnaire, Souffles, nos. 7/8, 1967 conducted in Lenssen, Anneka, A. Rogers, Sarah, and Shabout, Nada. Modern Art in the Arab World, Primary Documents. New York, USA: The Museum of Modern Art, 2018. [P.271]

[9] Benchemsi, Rajae, and Farid Belkahia. Farid Belkahia. Milano, Italy: Skira, 2013. [P.17]

[10] Farid Belkahia in response to the Artists’ Questionnaire, Souffles, nos. 7/8, 1967 conducted in Lenssen, Anneka, A. Rogers, Sarah, and Shabout, Nada. Modern Art in the Arab World, Primary Documents. New York, USA: The Museum of Modern Art, 2018. [P.270]

[11] Eigner, Saeb. Art of the Middle-East, Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab World and Iran. London, UK: Merell Publishers Limited, 2011. [P.243]

[12] Translated from French : « Le henné, la peau, ce sont mes souvenirs, ma grand-mère, le milieu dans lequel j’ai grandi, les odeurs que je connais… » in Lamlili, Nadia. “Maroc : Farid Belkahia, Dernier Trait De Pinceau – Jeune Afrique.” JeuneAfrique.com. Jeune Afrique, September 26, 2014. https://www.jeuneafrique.com/43555/culture/maroc-farid-belkahia-dernier-trait-de-pinceau/.

[13] Benchemsi, Rajae, Jean Hubert. Martin, and Farid Belkahia. Farid Belkahia. Casablanca, Morocco: Venise Cadre, 2010. [P.65]

[14] Green, Toby. Landscapes, Sources and Intellectual Projects of the West African Past Essays in Honour of Paulo Fernando De Moraes Farias. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2018. [P.188]

[15] Benchemsi, Rajae, Jean Hubert. Martin, and Farid Belkahia. Farid Belkahia. Casablanca, Morocco: Venise Cadre, 2010. [P.62]

[16] Benchemsi, Rajae, Jean Hubert. Martin, and Farid Belkahia. Farid Belkahia. Casablanca, Morocco: Venise Cadre, 2010. [P.62]

[17] Benchemsi, Rajae, and Farid Belkahia. Farid Belkahia. Milano, Italy: Skira, 2013. [P.102]

[18] Benchemsi, Rajae, Jean Hubert. Martin, and Farid Belkahia. Farid Belkahia. Casablanca, Morocco: Venise Cadre, 2010. [P.44]

Sources

Aroussi, Moulim el., and Brahim Alaoui. Peinture Marocaine 1950-2010: Collection Elisabeth Bauchet-Bouhlal. Marrakech, Morocco: ES-SAADI Garden & Resort, 2010.

Benchemsi, Rajae, and Farid Belkahia. Farid Belkahia. Milano, Italy: Skira, 2013.

Benchemsi, Rajae, Jean Hubert. Martin, and Farid Belkahia. Farid Belkahia. Casablanca, Morocco: Venise Cadre, 2010.

Eigner, Saeb. Art of the Middle-East, Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab World and Iran. London, UK: Merell Publishers Limited, 2011.

Green, Toby. Landscapes, Sources and Intellectual Projects of the West African Past Essays in Honour of Paulo Fernando De Moraes Farias. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2018.

Lenssen, Anneka, A. Rogers, Sarah, and Shabout, Nada. Modern Art in the Arab World, Primary Documents. New York, USA: The Museum of Modern Art, 2018.

Powers, Jean Holiday. “Published.” Casablanca School - Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism, 2016. https://www.rem.routledge.com/articles/casablanca-school.

Sefrioui, Kenza. “La Revue Souffles (1966-1973): Quand Culture Rime Avec Politique.” Revue Interculturel/Francophonie, (Lecce, Alliance Française, n°16), Ss. Dir. Bernoussi Saltani : "Abdellatif Laâbi : Un Intellectuel Tout Simplement", 2009.

Lakrissa, Fatima Zahra. “École Des Beaux-Arts De Casablanca (1964–1970) - Articles.” bauhaus imaginista. Accessed June 10, 2020. http://www.bauhaus-imaginista.org/articles/2413/e-cole-des-beaux-arts-de-casablanca-1964-1970?0bbf55ceffc3073699d40c945ada9faf=ppq3kadfmlm2tm02ime94tk3q0.

Lamlili, Nadia. “Maroc : Farid Belkahia, Dernier Trait De Pinceau – Jeune Afrique.” JeuneAfrique.com. Jeune Afrique, September 26, 2014. https://www.jeuneafrique.com/4... 

Farid Belkahia.” La Fondation Farid Belkahia. Accessed June 8, 2020. http://fondationfaridbelkahia.com/.