Beschreibung:

Melehi (Mohamed, 1936-2020). Composition, circa 1980s, cellulose paint on thick wood panel, of a wave motif in orange and grey colours on a light blue background, with original printed label to verso of Art and Design Consultants with artist: Melehi, reference number: 53, dimensions: 400 cms L x 236 cm H, and specifications: enamel steel in manuscript to verso, a few minor surface marks, 29.7 x 45 cm (11 5/8 x 17 3/4 ins) (Quantity: 1) The present work may have been submitted as a small-scale sample for the large mural by Mohamed Melehi commissioned by Jeddah Airport in the 1980's. The label to verso refers to the suggested size of the completed work: 4 metres x 2.36 metres. Melehi was born in Asilah, Morocco, in 1936. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Tétouan in Morocco from 1953–1955, and in Seville, Madrid, Rome and Paris before crossing the Atlantic to Minneapolis and New York, spending time at Columbia University with a Rockefeller Foundation scholarship. He returned to Morocco in 1964 and was an influential teacher at the School of Art in Casablanca as well as a founder member of the ‘Casablanca group’ of artists that included Farid Belkahia and Mohamed Chabâa. He was also arts director at Morocco’s Ministry of Culture (1985–1992) and a cultural consultant at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (1999–2002). His work has encompassed being a publisher, graphic designer, sculptor, painter, muralist, teacher, organiser of exhibitions and festivals. He is regarded as a major figure of postcolonial Moroccan art and of modernism in the Global South.