02 Paintings by Orientalist Artists, with footnotes, #96

Rachid Talbi

Fantasia marocaine, Benimellal/ Moroccan fantasia, Benimellal, c. 2019

Watercolour

54 x 73 x 1 cm

Private collection

Beni Mellal is a Moroccan city located in the country's interior. It is the capital of the Béni Mellal-Khénifra Region. It sits at the foot of Jbel Tassemit, and next to the plains of Beni Amir. The walls of the city go back to Moulay Ismail, in 1688. More on Beni Mellal

Fantasia is a traditional exhibition of horsemanship in the Maghreb performed during cultural festivals and to close Maghrebi wedding celebrations. "Fantasia" is an imported name, the actual traditional term used is lab el baroud.

The performance consists of a group of horse riders, all wearing traditional clothes, who charge along a straight path at the same speed so as to form a line, and then at the end of the charge (about two hundred meters) fire into the sky using old muskets or muzzle-loading rifles The difficulty of the performance is in synchronizing the movement of the horses during acceleration of the charge, and especially in firing the guns simultaneously so that one single shot is heard. The horse is referred to as a fantasia horse and are of Arabian, Andalusian or Barb stock. More on Fantasia

Rachid Talbi

Fantasia in Mascara, c. 2018

Watercolour

45 x 75 x 2 cm

Private collection

Mascara, is a town, northwestern Algeria, situated about 40 miles (60 km) south of the Mediterranean Sea coast. Spread across two hills separated by the Wadi Toudman, it lies on the southern slope of the Beni Chougran Range of the Atlas Mountains. Mascara (“Mother of Soldiers”) was founded as a Turkish military garrison in 1701. In about 1790 the town was abandoned by the Spanish Muslims (Moors) who had settled there and was returned to the Turks, who settled a Jewish community there. In 1832 Abdelkader, an Algerian patriot who was born in the vicinity, chose Mascara as his headquarters. The town was reduced to ruins by the French in 1835. More on Mascara

Rachid Talbi was born on October 29, 1967 in Beni Mellal - Morocco. He lives in Oran - Algeria.

Graduated in 1992 following higher studies at the University of Es-Senia in Oran, in the Microbiology sector. He is a self-taught artist and a member of the National Union of Cultural Arts.

After his university studies, Rachid Talbi chooses to make his gift for painting, his profession. In the 2000s, his artistic career took a flourishing turn when he became a permanent artist at the Dar El Kenz gallery in Algiers. Endowed with a very rich artistic activity, he takes part in events related to painting in the Museums, galleries and cultural places of several cities of Algeria.

He exhibits regularly at the Maghreb fair in Paris. Some of his paintings were acquired by the Embassies of France, Venezuala and the United States in Algiers as well as by the Presidency of the Algerian Republic and the City of Paris. In 2009, he received a letter of recognition from his Majesty the King of Morocco, Rachid TALBI having offered him a canvas during the Feast of the Throne.

Rachid Talbi is a contemporary figurative painter who uses all techniques to express his art: oil, watercolor, acrylic, pastel, charcoal and pencil. From its bright and colorful touch flow scenes from everyday life, portraits, fantasias, marines, still lifes ...

His painting leaves no one indifferent and his notoriety is real in Algeria and Morocco. His talent explodes on social networks where he appears among the greatest contemporary painters of the Maghreb. More on Rachid Talbi

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and visit my Boards on Pinterest

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