01 Orientalist Painting, Mattéo Brondy's Fantasia , with footnotes, #113

Mattéo Brondy (1866-1944)

Fantasia 

Watercolor on paper

51 X 77 CM (20 1/16 X 30 5/16 IN.)

Private collection

Fantasia is a traditional exhibition of horsemanship in the Maghreb performed during cultural festivals and for Maghrebi wedding celebrations. It is present in Algeria, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger and Tunisia. It is attested in the ancient Numidian times during which it was practiced by the Numidian cavalry. Historian Carlos Henriques Pereira stated that the North African fantasia also called barud is a modern watered down version of a Numidian military technique. 

The fantasia is considered a cultural performance and a form of martial art; it also symbolizes a strong relationship between the man (or woman) and the horse, as well as an attachment to tradition. According to Jean-Pierre Digard, it is a watered down version of the Numidian cavalry charge.

Fantasia performances usually take place during local seasonal, cultural or religious festivals. More on Fantasia

Alphonse Clément André Brondy, known as Mattéo Brondy, (April 9, 1886 in Paris -1944 in Meknes, Morocco) was a French military veterinarian and painter. He is most known for the paintings of Morocco that became travel posters. His first works, exhibited from 1909 at the Salon des Indépendants and the French Artists Salon, met with success .

Brondy was a student at the National Veterinary School of Alfort in 1889. In the same year he completed an internship at the Saumur Cavalry School . Brondy was assigned, as a veterinary assistant, in 1891. He returned to France in 1894 to enter the Académie Julian in Paris. He was then admitted to Adolphe Déchenaud's workshop.

Brondy arrived in Morocco around 1915 again as a military veterinarian. He participated in armed expeditions in the Middle Atlas and Upper Moulouya, in the northeast of Morocco. He brought back some sketches and watercolors. In 1918, Brondy moved to Meknes as a municipal veterinarian. The Berber hinterland of the city also offered varied landscapes: plains, mountains and springs. All lit by this Afro-Mediterranean light that many artists have tried to capture .

Brondy founded with other French artists living in Morocco an artistic society called the Association of French painters and sculptors of Morocco. There are twelve member artists. The group was very reserved and avoided drawing in public without the consent of the neighborhood. He spent days working in the famous stud farms in Meknes. He executed watercolors near the Bab-el-Khémis or Bab-Berdaïne markets. He carefully noted the architecture of historic monuments. Brondy was the president of the tourist office of the city of Meknès and therefore the great promoter He made many splendid posters. These posters are not forgotten and continue to be published in the form of postcards and used as illustration for books. More on Mattéo Brondy

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