Jean Besancenot

"Jewish Woman of the Tafilelt" from "Costumes of Morocco", Gouache on Paper

1942

"Mariée Juive de Fès" translated to "Jewish Bride of Fez" is plate number 52 in Jean Besancenot's stunning portraits and depictions of the people of Morocco from his series "Costumes du Maroc" ("Costumes of Morocco). The woman depicted here is a young Jewish woman dressed for her wedding. She is dressed in traditional fashion for a Jewish wedding for the community in Morocco, a community with a long history in the region, especially the city of Fez, the second largest city in Morocco and known as the "Mecca of the West" for its contributions to religion and learning. For this reason and its northern proximity, Fez was a prominent destination for Jews fleeing Spain. Jewish history in Morocco is long, dating back to the 1st century, their numbers later increased by the Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492 by the Alhambra Decree. Jean Besancenot's sixty plate reproduced and handcolored gouache on paper study on the diversity of Morocco's cultures is a work of stunning historical importance in tracing the rich and vibrant diversity of North Africa. Besancenot spent the 1930s traveling around Morocco, undertaking an awe-inspiring study of its peoples and rendered in vivid and precise detail the way they traditionally lived and dressed. Many of those outfits and cultural expressions are gone now, with Besancenot's watercolored drawings of them some of the only ways that people can now visit the past. The original manuscript of "Costumes du Maroc" is kept in the Royal Collection in Rabat, with only 310 copies of it produced. These prints are fresh from the folio and have been newly museum framed under conservator glass; unframed the image of the print is 12.75 x 7.75 inches. The tissue guards that bear the caption of the plate have been framed in the verso with the title visible behind clear plastic. Jean Besancenot, real name Jean Girard, was a photographer, painter, designer, and ethnologist who was born in 1902 in Estrées-Saint-Denis. His work straddles the crossroads of art and ethnography as he was primarily interested in the costumes and ornaments of Morocco in the first half of the 20th century. He arrived for the first time in Morocco in 1934, a country he traveled through until 1939. There he produced a very rich ethnographic documentation on the traditional costumes and adornments of the different Moroccan ethnic groups. His work, composed of photographs, films, drawings and paintings, testifies to the aestheticism of Moroccan cultural heritage that was still marked by little Western influence. His book "Costumes du Maroc" was published in 1942 at the end of his first trip and presents 60 documented plates of Moroccan costumes...

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