Mohamed Melehi 1936-2020
Mohamed Melehi (b. 1936, Asilah, Morocco) is painter, graphic designer, teacher, muralist, and cultural activist – a pivotal and leading figure for postcolonial Moroccan art and within the history of transnational modernism. In his paintings we sense the spirit of aesthetic revolution and the exhilaration of post-Independence Morocco. Alongside peers Farid Belkahia and Mohammed Chabâa, Melehi is an influential figure in Moroccan modernism and a key member of the Casablanca Art School, an avant-garde group that radically questioned cosmopolitan abstraction and art pedagogy within the context of colonial powers and influences. His work resists the East/West divide resulting in a dialogue between Moroccan traditional and popular craft, whilst also connecting to the Hard Edge painters of the 1960s.
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Installation image of 'Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s–1980s.' , Grey Art Gallery, NYU
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Nuances 2, 1959
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Sky Above Manhattan, 1963
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The Blacks, 1963
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Charamusca Africana, 1968
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Untitled, 1970
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Untitled, 1970
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Untitled, 1972
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Untitled, 1975
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Untitled, 1983
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Untitled, 2008
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Untitled, 2008
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Untitled, 2008
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Untitled, 2008
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Untitled, 2008
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Vertical Flood One, 2019
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Moucharabieh, Blue on Black, 2020
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Moucharabieh, Grey on Black, 2020
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Moucharabieh, Ocher and Orange, 2020
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Arabian Moucharabieh, 2020
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Moucharabieh in Blue, 2020
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Moucharabieh in Grey, 2020
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Moucharabieh in the Night, 2020
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Diagonal in Silver, 2020
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Moucharabieh in Four Colours, 2020
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Moucharabieh in Green and Blue, 2020
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Moucharabieh in Silver and Yellow, 2020
Mohamed Melehi was born in Assilah, Morocco in 1936. He graduated from the École des Beaux-Arts, Tétouan, Morocco, in 1955. He continued his studies abroad, learning fine art in Seville and Madrid, sculpture in Rome, and engraving in Paris. In the early 1960s he travelled to the United States, where he studied at Columbia University (with a scholarship from the Rockefeller Foundation) for two years before returning to Morocco in 1964. It was during this time that Melehi began to explore his cultural heritage as a primary source of inspiration and started using a bolder, more brilliant colour palette.
Melehi was Professor of Painting, Sculpture and Photography at the Casablanca School of Fine Arts from 1964 to 1969. In 1969, he organized the first open-air group exhibition, held in Marrakesh medina’s Jemaa el-Fna Square. Eliciting much acclaim from the public and art critics, this exhibition radicalized the country’s contemporary art scene. In 1978 Melehi and Mohamed Benaissa created the Al Mouhit Cultural Association, a non-political organization with purely cultural objectives. The result of this venture is the Asilah Cultural Moussem, an annual festival held every summer. A highlight of the festival is the mural painting event, first held in April 1978, a project which has revitalized the formerly dilapidated appearance of the artist’s birthplace. Asilah is now celebrated for its vividly coloured murals, many of which have been created by Melehi.
Melehi is the President of the Moroccan Association of Plastic Arts. He is former Director of Arts for the Ministry of Culture (1985 – 1992), and ex cultural consultant to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Co-operations (1999 to 2002) of Morocco.
He has held numerous solo exhibitions including a retrospective at the Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden (MACAAL), Marrakech (2019), the Mosaic Rooms London (2019), Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (1995), and the Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York (1984). He has participated in group shows in Casablanca, Tangiers, Rabat, Marrakech, Baghdad, Algiers, Dubai, London, Paris, Rome, Zurich, New York, Chicago and Montreal.
His work is held in international museum collections that include: Tate, London; British Museum, London; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; and, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha.
Melehi passed away in Paris in October 2020.
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Arabian Moucharabieh
Mohamed Melehi at Cromwell Place London 5 - 11 Oct 2020 GalleryArabian Moucharabieh is a solo exhibition of new paintings by Moroccan artist Mohamed Melehi (b.1936), presented as part of the inaugural programme of exhibitions taking place at Cromwell Place London....Read more -
New Waves: Mohamed Melehi and the Casablanca Art School Archives
Mohamed Melehi at Concrete, Alserkal Avenue 19 Sep - 21 Nov 2020Alserkal Arts Foundation presents New Waves: Mohamed Melehi and the Casablanca Art School Archives. Curated by Morad Montazami, Zamân Books & Curating, the exhibition retraces the life and career of...Read more -
Upsurge: Waves, Colour and Illusion
18 Mar - 1 Sep 2020 GalleryBringing together the diverse range of practices of a multi-generational group of artists - Mohamed Melehi (b.1936, Morocco), Mona Saudi (b.1945, Jordan), Hamra Abbas (b.1976, Kuwait), Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim (b....Read more -
Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s–1980s
Mohamed Melehi at Grey Art Gallery, NYU New York 4 Jan - 4 Apr 2020 MuseumsTaking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s-1980s explores mid-20th-century abstract art from North Africa, West Asia, and the Arab diaspora-a vast geographic expanse that encompasses diverse cultural, ethnic, linguistic,...Read more -
New Waves - Melehi and the Casablanca Art School Archives
Mohamed Melehi at Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden (MACAAL) 21 Sep 2019 - 5 Jan 2020 MuseumsNew Waves: Mohamed Melehi and the Casablanca Art School Archives offers a chronological journey that retraces the period in the artist's career from the 1950's to the 1980's through the...Read more -
New Waves: Mohamed Melehi and the Casablanca Art School Archives
Mohamed Melehi at the Mosaic Rooms London 12 Apr - 22 Jun 2019 MuseumsThe Mosaic Rooms present works by the abstract painter Mohamed Melehi (b. 1936). This is the first UK exhibition dedicated to Mohamed Melehi, now regarded as a cornerstone of postcolonial...Read more -
Op Art In Focus
Mohamed Melehi at Tate Liverpool 12 Jul 2018 - 21 Jul 2020 MuseumsA dazzling display from pioneering artists of the 1960s to today Op Art emerged in the 1960s. Its leading figures included Bridget Riley, Jesus Rafael Soto and Victor Vasarely. They...Read more
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Mohamed Melehi
Arabian Moucharabieh Exhibition at Cromwell Place, London October 15, 2020 -
Mohamed Melehi in conversation with Reem Fadda
Abu Dhabi Art November 23, 2019Reem Fadda in conversation with artist Mohamed Melehi, traces his multifaceted practice as a painter, designer, photographer, muralist and cultural activist, a career that has...Read more -
Mohamed Melehi
New Waves: Mohamed Melehi and the Casablanca Art School Archives at MACAAL 21 September, 2019 - 5 January, 2020 September 21, 2019Curated by Morad Montazami for Zamân Books & Curating, New Waves: Mohamed Melehi and the Casablanca Art School Archives offers a chronological journey that retraces...Read more