The Art of Painting: A Glance At Tunisia

Maurice Bismouth, Man At Prayer; Pierre Boucherle, Interior of Synagogue; Jellal Ben Abdallah, Woman with Doves

The origins of Tunisian painting go back to the middle of the 19th century with the travelling painters who came from different places to discover the Orient... Orientalist painting fathered a long and noble line of artists like Emile Pinchard, Albert Aublet, Henri. G. Josot, Armand Vergeaud, David Junes, Yvonne Thivet, Emile Boivin, Vincent Manago, Alexis Dlahogue and many others.

Between the 1st and 2nd World Wars, the Tunisian Fair, whose first edition was held in 1894, grew very fast in size thanks to those travelling artits who came to Tunisia out of pleasure, duty or exile. Some of them even settled in Tunisia like Alexandre Roubtzoff or the Baron of Erlanger.

In 1920, the precursors of Tunisian painting start changing from the rigorous style of the time. They show a bigger freedom in their creations through typical sceneries of every day life like Moses Levy, Yahia Turki, Hedi Turki, Hedi Khayachi, Pierre Boucherle, Jules Lellouche, Edgard Naccache, Maurice Bismouth, Ammar Farhat, Azzouz Berraies, Aly Ben Salem, Hatem El Mekki... This evolution is characterized by the attempts of Tunisian artists to impose an ideology in opposition to the colonial one. The works of art then reflected an idealized image of reality that remained until after the independence ( 1956).

The Tunis School, who exhibited its works for the first time in 1949, gave a new impulse with its founder Pierre Boucherle.The members of this group of artists then claimed the expression of an authentic Tunisian art based upon popular and traditional inspirations. The Tunis School is also enriched with the experience of its predecessors.

A wind of modernity then stirs the Tunisian artistic scene and integrates talented artists like Jalel Ben Abdallah, Ali Bellagha, Abdelaziz Gorgi, Brahim Dhahak, Zoubeir Turki, Fethi Ben Zakour, and many others.

In the 1950s, a leap into abstraction marks a mutuation in the style of the time with the precursors Hedi Turki, Edgard Naccache, Nevo Levy, and new talents like Mahmoud Sehili, Nejib Belkhodja and Guider Triki.

Modern art in Tunisia then reveals a generation of pure artists who only want to represent what they feel deep inside. Abstraction is therefore adapted by several artists including Rafik El Kamel, and Abderrazak Sahli. Since then, the artists work at capturing the atmosphere of the country, its culture, its history.

Authenticity was the keynote of the 1970s-1980s. In painting Tunisian reality opposes universality of art to the creation of a national art... the precursors of Tunisian modern art were followed by by new talents like Lamine Sassi, Habib, Bouabana, Ridha Bettaieb, Khaled Ben Slimane, Faouzi Chtioui, Mohamed Ben Meftah amd many others.

A vast mosaic of styles and aesthetic choices originated from the dynamics of art in Tunisia. Young talents of contemporary art like Asma M'naouar, Asma Masmoudi, Halim Karabibene, Emna Zghal, Amel Bennis, Hela Ammar and Amar Ben Belgacem, seem to have perfectly integrated the way of communicating a delicate experience.

(From Tunisia News Magazine)