Farid Belkahia and the Casablanca School

A founder of contemporary Moroccan art. This publication highlights a crucial period in the career of Farid Belkahia: his return to Morocco in 1962 and his appointment as director of the School of Fine Arts of Casablanca, a position he held until his resignation in 1974.

Farid Belkahia advocated the re-appropriation of traditional arts. He surrounded himself with a team that shared his vision, including the artists Mohamed Melehi and Mohamed Chabâa, and the art historians Toni Maraini and Bert Flint. These historical figures had evolved in places of modern artistic practice in Europe and North America, and had been exposed to the Bauhaus philosophy.

Together, they initiated an innovative pedagogy at the Casablanca School of Fine Arts, which they transformed into an incubator of a modern artistic creation, rooted in local culture, emancipated from academic artistic practices and open to the world. Other renowned artists joined the teaching staff, such as Mohamed Ataallah, André Elbaz, Mohamed Hamidi and Mustapha Hafid, inspiring pupils such as the artists Malika Agueznay, Abdellah El Hariri, Houssein Miloudi, Abdelkrim Ghattas, Abderrahman Rahoule among others.