Ahmed CHERKAOUI (1934-1967) [MOROCCO] - Lot 45

Ahmed CHERKAOUI (1934-1967) [MOROCCO] Desires, 1963 Oil on canvas. Signed, titled and dated on the back. 47 x 62 cm Provenance: -Collection of Madame D. -Obtained by inheritance from her aunt, Madame X, a Parisian who frequented Moroccan artistic circles in the 50s and 60s. Related work: l'Aurore, 1964, Oil on canvas, Cherkaoui, la passion du signe, edited by Brahim Alaoui, Fondation Wafabank and Institut du Monde Arabe, p. 98-99. Resale rights payable by the purchaser. Ahmed Cherkaoui is an artist of crossroads. His painting reconciles tradition and modernity, spirituality and matter. Inspired by Berber motifs, ritual tattoos, Arabic calligraphy and Islamic decorative art, his abstract work is deeply rooted in his Moroccan identity. Gestural painting, which was enjoying a revival in France in the post-war years, found an echo in Cherkaoui's artistic approach. His discovery of the work of Roger Bissière led him to abandon figuration and landscape painting in favor of abstraction. As such, he became associated with the painters of the École de Paris and took part in their 1962 exhibition at the Galerie Charpentier. In 1963, the year our work was produced, he was one of the "Vingt peintres étrangers" (Twenty foreign painters) exhibiting at the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris. In the early 1960s, Cherkaoui refocused his inspiration on folk art, a major source of inspiration for his work. Thanks to a repertoire consolidated over the years, Cherkaoui's work became increasingly pared-down, resembling a gestural calligraphy of great expressive power. Our work illustrates the artist's preoccupations at this time. The dominant composition is rather dark, but animated by incandescent, structuring glows that, like fireworks, highlight the implicit signs and shapes. Cherkaoui arranges his motifs in such a way as to suggest depth and simulate shadows, thus consolidating the composition's balance. The abstract conjunction of shapes and colors is an invitation to meditation and contemplation. A few bibliographical references: Ahmed Cherkaoui comes from a dual cultural heritage. His mother, of Berber origin, and his father, a follower of the Sufi tradition, brought him up in a spiritual environment. Introduced at an early age to calligraphy and recitation of the Koran, the letter and the sign are at the heart of the artist's work. Cherkaoui grew up in the Moroccan Middle Atlas, surrounded by mountain landscapes and popular traditions that would later nourish his imagination. He attended secondary school in Casablanca and perfected his lettering skills with a renowned master calligrapher. Cherkaoui gradually turned to painting. In 1956, he moved to Paris and enrolled at the École des Métiers d'Art, where he trained in graphic arts. Graduating in 1959 with a specialization in advertising, he soon landed a job as a graphic designer at Pathé-Marconi, designing record sleeves. Cherkaoui then turned to illustration. His first painted works were figurative, depicting Moroccan landscapes, but from his first exhibition in 1959, he opted for a singular medium: jute canvas. In 1960, he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. A scholarship enabled him to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw for a year in 1961, a decisive stay for the artist. On his return, he developed a series of works using burlap. Like Paul Klee before the war, the introduction of glued burlap enabled him to produce textured works in irregular formats. Fascinated by Berber tattoos, pottery motifs, carpets and popular symbols, he turned away from the figurative to create a personal plastic vocabulary. A language of elementary forms, abstract signs, luminous colors and deep shadows became the hallmark of his work. Cherkaoui, who died prematurely in Casablanca in 1967 at the age of 32, exerted a major influence on Moroccan artistic modernity.