Marc Eliany © All Rights Reserved
From
an historical perspective, much artistic merit is found in Morocco’s material
culture in the work of common artisans and craftsmen.
Western modern artists found artistic redemption in it and Moroccan Jews made
a significant contribution to it in creation and diffusion (Eliany, 2002).
Given
the strongly grounded traditional patterns of artistic creation in Morocco,
artists had to deviate from them to break ground into modern and
contemporary art forms. But until the early 50’s, religious and traditional
constraints remained potent and only sustained exposure to external cultures,
i.e., French, Israeli or North American, made contemporary artistic expressions
legitimate (Eliany, 2002).
There
are certainly many more artists to represent Moroccan Jewish artistic creation
and in due time, more will be written about them.
Meanwhile, the three selected here, Elbaz and BenHaim on one side and Eliany
on the other, certainly typify their breakthrough into contemporary art,
forgetting not their Moroccan Jewish roots.
Around the turn
of the century, Jews in Morocco became exposed to French education and French
culture.
Young people went to French schools in Morocco and the brightest among them
continued their studies in Europe and mostly in France.
Some, like Andre Elbaz and Maxime BenHaim, studied art in France. And their
exposure to French art centers made its mark in their work.
Andre Elbaz
Leading among
contemporary Jewish artists in Morocco is Andre Elbaz, born in El Jadida (Mazagan),
in 1934.
He studied art and theatre in Rabat (1950-55) as well as in Paris (1957-61)
and taught art in Casablanca (1962-63) (see detailed CV).
Elbaz’ work depicts
Jewish themes in the abstract expressionist tradition: i.e., figures in synagogue
settings, tragic events such as the Holocaust
(exhibited at Yad Vashem in 1985) and the Inquisition in 1992. He worked in
Morocco, Canada and France.
His most recent work vacillates between expressionistic portrayals of
Jerusalem and powerful conceptual abstract work in which
he yearns to eradicate interfaith destructiveness (see sample below).
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Andre Elbaz in his studio |
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Andre Elbaz,
The Prayer,
Acrylics on paper |
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Andre Elbaz,
Untitled, 1987,
Reconstituted tinted paper |
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Andre
Elbaz, Untitled, 1987, |
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Maxime Ben Haim
Maxime
Ben Haim born in Meknes in 1941, studied art in Paris in the mid sixties.
He worked in Morocco, France and Canada, living in Montreal since 1979.
Ben Haim elevates the Moroccan Jewish quarter (Melah) as well as ancestral figures
from common existence
to archetypal transcendence in a somewhat expressionistic/realistic style.
Ben Haim’s work is firmly grounded in Jewish roots and yet it transcends cultural
boundaries,
bridging across collective memories binding Jews and Arabs across many generations
(see detailed CV as well as samples of his work attached).
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Ben Haim, Self Portrait, Acrylics on paper |
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Ben Haim,
Femme de Memoire, 1988 Acrylics on paper |
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Ben Haim, Ombre sur la maison, 1988, Acrylics on paper |
The Israeli/North American influence
Immigration to Israel and North
America exposed Jewish artists of Moroccan origin to new influences.
Pinhas Cohen Gan arrived to Israel at a very young age; nevertheless his perception
of Israel has been strongly determined
by his Moroccan roots and his art education in New York.
Similarly, Marc Eliany who lived in Israel for some fifteen years, certainly
absorbed Israeli influences too.
He, however, arrived to Israel at a more mature age and was able to look at
Israel from a critical point of view.
Furthermore, his artistic world of concepts was shaped by a wider and universal
exposure to art in
North America, Europe as well as Asia and Africa.
Pinhas
Cohen Gan born in Meknes in 1942 in Meknes, immigrated to Israel in 1949,
graduating from Bezalel Art Academy (1970), the Hebrew University (1973) and
Columbia University in 1977.
Pinhas Cohen Gan is well known as a conceptual abstract painter in Israel.
Cohen Gan juxtaposed the individual and his environment, confronting men to
“scientific” realities,
a metaphor for the alienation of newcomers from Arab countries in a ‘Westernized’
Israel (Fuhrer 1998; Omer 1983).
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Pinhas Cohen Gan |
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Pinhas Cohen
Gan,
Latent figurative circuit |
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Marc Eliany, born in 1948 in Beni Melal, immigrated
to Israel in 1961 and moved to Canada in 1976.
He was educated at the Technion (1969-71), the Hebrew University (1971-76) and
Carleton and Ottawa Universities (1976-1981).
Eliany is a multidisciplinary artist and writer
dedicated to documenting Jewish life in Morocco.
He wrote a collection of poems ‘On Wine and Love’ in the Spanish Mauresque tradition,
a play ‘Rezadeira’ on Spanish-Portuguese Maranos and produced photographic documentation
(The Last Jews of Ifrikia)
and canvases (Gates of Welcome) conveying the wealth of Moroccan Jewish Culture,
past and present (www.artengine.ca/eliany/).
Eliany
addresses issues relating to inter-cultural tolerance in a symbolic expressionist
fashion.
"Eliany touches the heroic, the power of the symbol… His painting reduces
rhythms to their essential…
His work expresses his deep and colorful spirituality, and his fierce sensuality…”
(Ouaknine, 1994).
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Eliany in his studio,
2002 Photo:C. Zacharia, Museum of Civilization, Canada |
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Eliany,
Man at work, 1979, Tempera on paper |
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Eliany,
1992, |
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Eliany,
After the market on a sunny day, 1993, oil on canvas board |
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References
Elbaz, Andre, 1971
Seuls
Elbaz, Andre, 1991
Of Fire and Exile
Eliany, Marc,
2002 ‘Artistic Creation and the Moroccan Jewish Diaspora’
www.artengine.ca/eliany/
Fuhrer, Ronald, 1998
Israeli Painting, An
Elephant Eye Book, New York
Omer, Mordechai, 1983
Pinhas Cohen Gan 1983 Haifa
Museum of Modern Art, Israel
Ouaknine, Serge, 1994
Gates of Welcome, Virtual
Publications, Canada
Yad Vashem, 1985
The Cry of Silence: Andre Elbaz, Yad
Vashem Art Museum
www.artengine.ca/eliany/
www.maximebenhaim.ht.st
ANDRE ELBAZ
12, Rue Lagrange, Paris, 75005
33 1 46 33 25 91 andreelbaz@hotmail.com
né le 26 Avril 1934 à Mazagan, Maroc
ETUDES :
Arts Graphiques et Théâtre
1957-1961
Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris
1950-1955 Ecole
d’art graphique, Rabat
1949-1950 Ecole
d’art dramatique, Rabat
ONE MAN SHOWS :
2002 Galerie
Mabel Semmler, Paris
La Maison de la bibliophilie,
Paris
2001 Remember for the
Future Maison Française, Oxford - Galerie La Croix Baragnon,Toulouse
2000 Cinq triptyques
en guise de perspective - Mémorial du CDJC, Paris
1999 Le Défit à la
Barbarie , Musée Départemental, Epinal- Bibliothèque de l’A.I.U. Parris
1993 Cegep Saint Laurent,
Montréal
1992 Sala dei Congressi,
Milano ; Casa della Cultura, Livorno
Ottawa Carleton Regional Center,
Ottawa ;
Jewish Public Library, Montréal
1990 Centre Pompidou,
Biennale du Film d'Art, Paris
1990 Seïbu Gallery,
Tokyo
1989 Nishi-Azabu ;
Azakloth Gallery, Tokyo
1985 Musée d'Art, Yad
Vashem, Jérusalem
1984 Galerie Aut der
Land, Munich
1976 Musée de Tel Aviv
La Rotonde, Aix-en-Provence ;
Centre Edmond Fleg, Marseille
Château de Herbeys, Grenoble
1975 Centre Rachi,
Paris
1972 Albert White Gallery,
Toronto
1970 Terre des Hommes,
Montréal
1969 Waddington Gallery,
Montréal
1965 Centre Culturel
Français, Casablanca
1964 Zwemmer Gallery,
Londres
1962-63-1965 Musée
de Bab Rouah, Rabat
1960 Balliol College,
Oxford
PRIX :
1998 Prix
Mémoire de la Shoah - Fondation du Judaïsme Français
1968 La Nuit n'est
jamais complète Lauréat du court métrage - Vème Biennale de Paris.
SALONS & BIENNALES :
1973 Jean
Paulhan à travers ses peintres
1968 Nuit Culturelle
de Nancy avec Roêl d’Haese, Pierre Schaeffer, René de Obaldia Esposito, Piem.
1961-1963-1965-1967
Biennales de Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne
1955-1959
Salon des Surindépendants - Salon de l’Ecole Française - Salon d’Hiver
Salon de la jeune Peinture
- Musée d’Art Moderne - Paris
COURTS METRAGES & ANIMATIONS :
1972 Histoire
d’œufs, animation Montréal
1971 Regard sur la
Peinture Américaine, Whitney Muséum, New York
1970 L’homme à la
Bouteille, Réalise à l’Office National du Fim Montréal à la demande de
Norman McLaren
Les Mobiles chez Calder,
au MOMA New York
1969 Graphiques pour
« Kaddish » de Léonard Bernstein
1966 La Nuit n’est
Jamais Complète, Oratorio "A Survivor from Warsaw “ Arnold Schöenberg,
Service de la Recherche de
l’ORTF - représente la France au Festival du Court-Métrage à Tours
REALISATIONS :
1971 - SEULS,
Portfolio de 20 sérigraphies, Textes de Elie Wiesel & Naïm Kattan.
1991 - DE FEU ET D’EXIL,
Portefolio de 20 sérigraphies sur le thème de l’Inquisition, textes de
François-Marc Gagnon, Shmuel Trigano & Naïm Kattan
COLLECTION :
Bibliothèque Nationale,
Paris - Public Library, New York - Bibliothèque Municipale de Montréal Jewish
Museum, New York - Bibliothèque Nationale, Québec - The National Gallery, Ottawa
- Musée des Beaux Arts, Montréal - Bibliohèque Municipale, Toronto - Jérusalem
Museum - Tel-Aviv Museum - Yad Vashem Museum of Art, Jerusalem
- Bibliothèque de l'Université de Toronto - Bibliothèque de l’Assemblée Nationale,
Paris - Musée des Deux Guerres, Paris - Ministère de la C:ulture, Paris
- Musée de la Déportation, Paris Musée d’Art et d’histoire du Judaïsme, Paris
- Bibliothèque, Toronto - Jewish Seminary, New York - Bibliothèque de l’Alliance,
Paris - Wienner Libary, London - Jewish Museum, Copenhague
S.A.R. La Princesse Elisabeth du Danemark - Willy Brandt - Itshack Rabbin - Mme A. de Rothschild - Elie Wiesel - Bronfman Family - M . & Mme Léon Cligman et d’autres collectionneurs privés, U.S.A., Canada, Europe, Israël, France, Suisse, Maroc.