Mohamed Melehi

Mohamed Melehi is a prodigious activist for Moroccan arts and culture, and has been participating in, supporting and founding arts and cultural events, journals and exhibitions since the mid-1960s when he also co-founded the avant-garde literary journal Souffles. Born in Asilah, Morocco, in 1936, he studied at the School of Fine Art, Tétouan, then at the Higher Art Schools of Santa Isabel de Hungria, Seville, and San Fernando, Madrid. He studied at the Academy of Fine Art, Rome, and the National School of Fine Arts, Paris. He taught painting in Minneapolis, USA, at the School of Art, and spent two years in New York on a Rockefeller Fellowship for painting, and studied history of art at Columbia University. On his return to Morocco Melehi taught painting, sculpture and photography at the School of Fine Arts, Casablanca, and later founded the literary and arts magazine Intégral. In 1978 he co-founded Al-Mouhit Cultural Association and the Asilah International Cultural Season (Moussem). During the 1980s and 1990s he held a number of official positions as advisor to the government of cultural matters, and director of Moroccan arts and cultural projects. His work has been shown in Tangiers, Rome, Mexico City, Paris, New York and all the major Moroccan cities.

Front cover: Red and black night, acrylic, 110 x 100 cm, 2005

Horizontal C, acrylic on canvas, 80 x 160 cms, 2005