01 Painting, Middle East Artists, with Footnotes, #30

Farid Belkahia , 1934-2014, Moroccan

JERUSALEM, c. 1980

Pigments and skin on wood, in four parts

183 by 155 cm.; 72 by 61 in.

Private collection

Farid Belkahia (1934–2014) was born into a wealthy bourgeois family in Marrakech. He grew up with his father’s art collection, and his further artistic awakening would take place within his father’s circle of friends.

From about 1950, Belkahia took classes in Teslar’s studio. During these years, and prior to his departure from Morocco, Belkahia distanced himself from the Orientalist styles that persisted through the academic art teaching and Salons under the French Protectorate, instead choosing his own path. 

From the second half of the 1950s, and during the 1960s, Belkahia travelled all over Europe, the Maghreb and the Middle East in search of his cultural roots, constantly shifting his glance from one civilisation to another. Two periods during this time were most influential to his work. The first was his stay in Paris between 1955 and 1959, where he studied at the School of Fine Arts. Here, he consolidated his understanding of modern European art and developed his particular approach to light and colour – especially while in the studio of Raymond Legueult. More on Farid Belkahia

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