Overview

In the Moroccan French Protectorate (1912-1956), the French established vocational and fine art schools, imposed modern systems of industrial production and pedagogy and reinvented old traditions. Hamid Irbouh argues that the French used this systematic modernisation of local arts and crafts regulation to impose their control. He looks in particular at the role and place of women in the structures of art production and education created by the French- that transformed and dominated Moroccan society during the colonial period. French women infiltrated the Moroccan milieu, to buttress colonial ideology, yet at critical moments, Moroccan women rejected traditional roles and sabotaged colonial plans. Meanwhile, the contradictions between reformist goals and the old order added to social dislocations and led to rebellion against French hegemony. Irbouh examines and analyses these processes and demonstrates how Moroccan artists have struggled to exorcise French influences and rediscover an authentic visual culture since decolonisation. This book reveals that the weight of colonial history continues to weigh heavily on artistic practice and production.

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9781780760360

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Reviews

Hamid Irbouh's study is a highly original, meticulously researched and pioneering investigation. This book will interest a very wide range of readers, not only in the history of Morocco, but also in art and design history more generally and especially, the rapidly growing field of postcolonial studies. It sheds immense light on the distinctive characteristics of contemporary popular culture in this North African country. (Anthony King, Bartle Professor of Art History and Sociology, State University of New York)

'A highly original, meticulously researched, pioneering investigation, not least in addressing the role French colonial women played in diffusing and maintaining French visual culture in the Moroccan feminine milieu. This book will interest a very wide range of readers, not only in the history of Morocco, but also in art and design history more generally and especially, the rapidly growing field of post colonial studies. It sheds immense light on the distinctive characteristics of contemporary culture in this North African country.' Anthony King, Professor Emeritus of Art History and Sociology, State University of New York. [A] well-conceived book based on original arhival sources...this is a novel approach to colonial art history, situating Moroccan art production in large social, political and ideological contexts.' Stuart Schaar, Professor Emeritus of Middle Eastern and North African History, Brooklyn College, City University of New York

Author Information

Hamid Irbouh received his D.Phil from the Department of History and Theory of Art and Architecture at the State University of New York, Binghamton. He has contributed essays to several books and journals and lives in upstate New York.

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