Mohammed Melehi (; 12 November 1936 – 28 October 2020) was a Moroccan painter associated with the Casablanca school, a modernist art movement active in the 1960s in Morocco.

Early life

Melehi was born in

Asilah Asilah () is a fortified town on the northwest tip of the Atlantic coast of Morocco, about south of Tangier. Its ramparts and gateworks remain fully intact. History The town's history dates back to 1500 B.C., when Phoenicians occupied a site ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. He studied at the School of Fine Arts of Tetuan (1953–1955), then at the ''

Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungría The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungría (''Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Saint Isabel of Hungary'') is located in the Casa de los Pinelo, Casa-Palacio de los Pinelo in central Seville, Spain. It is divided into six sections: ...

'' in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

(1955), the ''

Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (RABASF; ), located on the Calle de Alcalá in the centre of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery. A public law corporation, it is integrated together with other Spanish royal aca ...

'' (1956),

Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma The Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma is a public tertiary academy of art in Rome, Italy. It was founded in the sixteenth century, but the present institution dates from the time of the unification of Italy and the capture of Rome by the Kingdom ...

(1960), and the

Académie des Beaux-Arts The (; ) is a French learned society based in Paris. It is one of the five academies of the . The current president of the academy (2021) is Alain-Charles Perrot, a French architect. Background The academy was created in 1816 in Paris as a me ...

(1957–1960). He then studied at the ''

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in nor ...

'' in Paris. He then moved to Minneapolis hoping to study architecture, but started teaching painting at the

Minneapolis School of Art The Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) is a private college specializing in the visual arts and located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. MCAD currently enrolls approximately 800 students. MCAD is one of just a few major art schools to offer ...

instead. He then received a

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

fellowship and attended

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in New York (1962–1964).

Career

Melehi became a professor at the

School of Fine Arts of Casablanca The School of Fine Arts of Casablanca (, ) is a Fine art, Fine arts school established in 1919 in Casablanca, Morocco. It was the origin of the Modernism, modernist Casablanca School art movement led by faculty members Farid Belkahia, Mohamed Mel ...

, teaching painting, sculpture, and photography (1964 - 1969). At the time, the school was directed by

Farid Belkahia Farid Belkahia (; 1934 - 2014) was a Moroccan modernist artist and education reformer. He served as the director of the School of Fine Arts of Casablanca from 1962 to 1974, during the period of the Casablanca school modernist movement. As an artis ...

, with whom Melehi would form the Casablanca school movement. He died in Paris.

In 1969, Melehi and his colleagues of the Casablanca school, including

Mohamed Chabâa Mohamed Chabâa (; 1935–2013) was a Moroccan visual artist. He was a member of the Casablanca School and a leader of contemporary art and modernism in the Global South. His multidisciplinary approach to art became emblematic of the cultural aw ...

, Mohamed Ataallah, Mohamed Hamidi and Mustapha Hafid organized an , or protest exhibition, entitled . The artists displayed their works in

Jemaa el-Fnaa Jemaa el-Fnaa (), also Jemaa el-Fna, Djema el-Fna or Djemaa el-Fnaa, is a square and market place in Marrakesh's medina quarter (old city). It remains the main square of Marrakesh, used by locals and tourists. Name The origin of its name is uncl ...

in the

Marrakesh Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...

medina, snubbing an official Moroccan art salon of happening at the same time. This exhibition is regarded as the founding moment of

modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

in Morocco. "We took a position against the government", Melehi said in an interview with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', "Our works were in Jemaa el-Fnaa square for a week, exposed to the sun and wind. It was an ideological message about what art could be."

Death

Melehi died at the

Ambroise Paré Hospital Ambroise, sometimes Ambroise of Normandy,This form appeared first in (flourished ) was a Norman poet and chronicler of the Third Crusade, author of a work called ', which describes in rhyming Old French verse the adventures of as a crusade">-4; ...

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris ...

near Paris at the age of 84 a few days after being infected with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in France The COVID-19 pandemic in France has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have reached France on 24 January 2020, when the first COVID-19 case in both Europe and France was identified in Bordeaux. T ...

References

1936 births 2020 deaths Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in France Columbia University alumni 20th-century Moroccan painters Moroccan male painters 20th-century Moroccan male artists 21st-century Moroccan painters 21st-century male artists {{Morocco-bio-stub