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76 - Mohammed RACIM (Algiers 1896 - El Biar 1975) Sura Al-Fatiha …
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Estimate €8,000 - €10,000
Sale commission
Description
Mohammed RACIM (Algiers 1896 - El Biar 1975) Sura Al-Fatiha (the Opening) Opaque pigments on parchment Signed lower left in Latin characters and lower right in Arabic characters Mohamed Racim in Algiers. 28.1 x 21.4 cm *** Opaque pigments on vellum, signed lower left in Latin and lower right in Arabic Mohamed Racim (11 × 8⅜ in.) Provenance Former Algerian collection, acquired in Algiers around 2010. The composition follows the canonical structure of the Qur'anic frontispiece page (sarlawh). The central field, in the form of a poly-lobed medallion on a gold background, contains the text of the sura Al-Fatiha in gilded thuluth calligraphy, surrounded by an interlace of gilded foliage on a red, green and blue background. The work illustrates Mohamed Racim's characteristic synthesis between the conventions of North African Koranic illumination and Persian contributions, for which he mastered the palette and sense of decorative density. The double signature - Latin and Arabic - testifies to the artist's singular position, simultaneously asserting his belonging to the Islamic tradition and his recognition in European artistic circles. This leaflet could be part of the artist's collaboration on L'Islam sous la cendre by Maurice Heine (1884-1940), published by Jules Meynial, whose sumptuous luxury edition (only six copies) was accompanied by a frontispiece enhanced with gold on parchment, like the present work. Whatever the project to which the present work belongs, it bears witness to Racim's intense activity as an illuminator during those seminal years. Omar's brother - his father Ali and his uncle Mohamed ran an illumination and woodcarving workshop - Mohamed Racim received his first training in this family environment before joining the drawing office of the Crafts Department in 1910. His meeting with the Orientalist painter Étienne Dinet in 1914 was decisive: Dinet commissioned him to decorate La Vie de Mohammed, prophète d'Allah (The Life of Mohammed, Prophet of Allah), marking the start of a long collaboration with the publisher Piazza. He illustrated and decorated Dinet's Khadra and the Thousand and One Nights translated by Doctor Mardrus. He was awarded a scholarship to Spain in 1919 and travelled to Cordoba, Granada, London, Cairo, Rome, Vienna and Stockholm, immersing himself in Persian, Ottoman and Mughal miniatures. He was awarded Algeria's Grand Prix for Art in 1933, and in 1934 began teaching at the Algiers School of Fine Arts. In 1950, he was elected an honorary member of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters in London. Founder of the Algerian School of Miniature Painting, Mohamed Racim was the first to incorporate the laws of perspective into this art form, giving it an unprecedented modernity. Through his meticulous compositions - scenes of daily life, traditional festivals, evocations of pre-colonial Algeria - he countered the colonial attempt to depersonalise the country with a sovereign affirmation of Algerian identity and cultural heritage. After independence, he became an adviser to the Minister of Culture. He was murdered in El Biar in 1975, the younger brother of Omar Racim, leaving behind a body of work and teaching that laid the lasting foundations for the renaissance of the miniature arts in Algeria.
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About the sale Arab, African & Indian Modernities
Auction location
Auction time 06/18/2026 at 2:30 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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