The giant of Internet search engines, Google, celebrated Thursday the birthday of the late Algerian painter Mohamed Rasim, who is considered by some to revive the art of miniature painting concerned with decoration.
And "Google" placed on his home page a drawing showing the late artist holding his feather, in the framework of a painting painted on the miniature method.
Mohamed Rasim was born on June 24, 1869, in the Kasbah neighborhood of the Algerian capital, Algeria, to an ancient family that had a history of plastic art.
According to Mathaf's Encyclopedia of Modern Art and the Arab World, the upbringing of the Algerian artist influenced his choice in life. He completed his education in a vocational school affiliated with French colonialism, then worked as a painter in the drawing office of the Directorate of Civil Arts, and there the director noticed Rasim's unique works.
The Algerian artist spent a part of his days reproducing and designing Arab carpets and embroideries, and decorations on copper, and later discovered the art of miniatures, which is decorative drawings, and devoted his life to this ancient art, reviving it, especially in the Maghreb, where it was not known there.
He worked to add his own touches to this art, especially the tools of modern plastic art, until he became the pioneer of the miniature school in Algeria.
The year 1923 was pivotal. He exhibited his works at the Association of Algerian Artists and Orientalists in 1923. In the same year, he received a grant from the municipality of Algiers and the Order of the French Orientalist Painters Association in Paris.
Among his most prominent works is decorating the pages of the book One Thousand and One Nights in 12 volumes, and in 1933 he was the first Algerian to win the Grand Art Prize.
He did not stop painting miniatures until 1955, when his eyes became ill.
He was confident that resistance to the French occupation could be achieved through art. He depicted in his paintings the lives of Algerians in historical events and religious celebrations before the occupation.
After Algeria gained its independence in 1962, he was appointed as an advisor to the Minister of Culture, and his works were exhibited around the world such as Paris, Cairo, Rome, Bucharest, Stockholm and Copenhagen. The bulk of the artist's personal collection is now preserved in the Museum of Fine Arts in Algiers.
He died with his Swedish wife in mysterious circumstances on March 30, 1975, while media reports stated that what happened was a murder.
The Source
- skynewsarabia.com
- wikipedia.org