From September 24, 2000 through February 11, 2001, The Jewish Museum will present a new exhibition focusing on the multicultural art and traditions of Morocco and the history of Jewish life in Morocco for over 2,000 years. More than 180 objects – among them Orientalist paintings by well-known European artists such as Eugène Delacroix and Alfred Dehodencq; beautiful jewelry and ceremonial objects of silver and gold; sumptuous textiles and costumes; and 19th and 20th century photographs – will be on display in Morocco: Jews and Art in a Muslim Land. Two original short films will be included in the exhibition, evoking the spiritual and mystical importance of spaces and sites in Morocco, many of which are holy to both Jews and Muslims. The exhibition will depict a culture from the vantage point of “outsiders” – Orientalist painters and photographers – and from the “insider’s” perspective of the objects Jews created for themselves and others. Visitors will be encouraged to consider the contributions of Muslims, Jews, and Europeans to Moroccan culture – a culture that developed from ancient Berber traditions. Both of the films in the exhibition are by Hamid Fardjad. In the first short film visitors will see two sets of film images simultaneously – projected on two side-by-side screens. The first film provides an introduction to the exhibition showing evocative scenes of Morocco. The second short film is projected on one screen. Images of Morocco’s countryside and urban landscape, of a synagogue, of people moving along bustling thoroughfares and marketplaces, and shots of contemporary life in Morocco including men praying inside a synagogue, and women embroidering are included in the films.
Exhibition highlights include paintings by European artists who began traveling in Morocco during the 18th century, in search of the “mysterious” Orient, such as Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863), Alfred Dehodencq (1822-1882), Charles-Émile Vernet-LeComte (1821-1900), Francisco Lameyer y Berenguer (1825-1877), and Théo van Rysselberghe (1862-1926). Visiting European painters developed close relationships with the Moroccan Jewish community. Their dragomen (interpreters) were often Jews. The artists usually stayed in the mellah, the Jewish quarter of the city, whose homes were more open than those of Muslims. Also, Jewish women were willing to pose for artists, unlike the Muslim women who were secluded and inaccessible. As a result, Jewish women appear in Orientalist paintings out of all proportion to their numbers in the Moroccan population.
In Morocco textiles are important for ceremonial and everyday use and the exhibition includes sumptuous examples. Jews who lived among Berbers generally dressed like their Muslim neighbors. All the men wore a woolen cape whose lower section was richly embroidered. The northern and coastal cities absorbed the refugees from Spain, resulting in an artistic culture based on Iberian models. Spanish textile patterns continued to be manufactured in Morocco through the 20th century, as in the Fez belts on exhibition. And just as Jews in medieval Spain had been active in the weaving and trading of textiles, their descendents played a major role in the manufacture of Moroccan textiles.
The exhibition also includes exotic and sophisticated jewelry and ceremonial objects of silver and gold. Until the 1950s, most of Morocco’s silversmiths and jewelers were Jews. Since Muslims preferred not to work with metal, Jews stepped into what was a marginal area of the economy and became makers of metal vessels, jewelry, and textiles incorporating gold threads. Knowledge of sophisticated medieval Syrian and Egyptian metalwork came to Morocco directly, or with Muslims and Jews who fled Spain after the expulsions of 1492 and 1609. Based on Byzantine models, this intricate metalwork included enamel inlay, filigree, and openwork, and forms such as crescent-shaped earrings, biconical beads, and bird motifs. Customs followed by both Muslims and Jews made the jeweler’s craft important in Morocco. Women in tribal areas wear much of the family’s wealth as jewelry. In urban centers, the practice of giving jewelry as marriage gifts resulted in major commissions to artisans. Jewish jewelers made ceremonial daggers and powder horns for Muslim men and jewelry for Muslim women.
His Majesty Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, is patron of the exhibition and has contributed a statement to the catalogue. He has written “The Jewish Museum’s exhibition pays tribute to one of the most remarkable experiences of tolerance of our time and also to one of the most encouraging lessons of modernity, through the very rich and long-standing history and memory shared by Muslims and Jews in Morocco.” The Jewish Museum is also grateful to André Azoulay, Councillor to His Majesty the King of Morocco, who has encouraged and facilitated preparations for the exhibition.
Many strands of history and culture have gone into the making of Morocco’s people during the past three thousand years. Waves of settlers joined the native Berber tribes: Phoenicians in the 9th century BCE; Jews, Romans in the 1st century CE; and Arabs in the 7th century. During the later Middle Ages, other Muslims and Jewish immigrants came from the east and from the Iberian Peninsula, especially following the expulsions from Spain.
Together, Muslims and Jews forged a common spiritual culture and an artistic culture that reflects the dominant aesthetics of Islamic art. Muslim and Jewish artists have worked for patrons of both religious groups, and both groups share folk and religious practices such as the wearing of amulets and the veneration of the graves of saintly individuals. For centuries, Jews lived under Muslim rule as dhimmi, a protected minority with communal self-rule, but subject to special taxes and restrictions intended to indicate their subservient position. The status of some individuals changed with the establishment of foreign Protectorates in 1912; but equal civil rights for all became a reality only in 1956 when Morocco ended four decades of Spanish and French colonial rule and became an independent state.
Some four to five thousand Jews remain in Morocco. The rest have left, most of them during the 1950s and 1960s. Many emigrated to Israel, France, Canada, and other countries. What binds the entire community together are their common religious practices and customs, frequent visits to Morocco for pilgrimages and for private visits, and loyalty to the country of Morocco and its King. Jews have never forgotten royal pronouncements like that of King Mohammed V to the German representative who demanded a list of Jewish residents during World War II: “There are no Jews in Morocco, only Moroccans.” His reply reflected the fact that Jews and Muslims have lived together in Morocco for more than a millennium and the Jews were residents of the land for seven centuries or more before the coming of the Arabs. Today, Moroccan culture is multinational, supported by Jews and also Muslims who have great loyalty to their homeland.
Merrell Publishers, London, in association with The Jewish Museum, New York, is publishing the exhibition catalogue, Morocco: Jews and Art in a Muslim Land, edited by the exhibition’s curator Vivian B. Mann with essays by Dr. Mann, Ami Bouganim and Professors Daniel J. Schroeter, Oumama Aouad Lahrech, Harvey E. Goldberg, and Moshe Idel. The 192-page book includes 200 illustrations with 120 in color and six essays, and will be available for sale in the Museum’s Cooper Shop for $50 hardcover and $29.95 softcover.
The exhibition was organized by Dr. Vivian B. Mann, Morris and Eva Feld Chair in Judaica at The Jewish Museum in New York. She is an Adjunct Professor and a Program Advisor to the Master’s Program in Jewish Art and Material Culture at the Graduate School of The Jewish Theological Seminary of America and has published numerous books and catalogues in her field.
The installation design by noted designer Stuart Silver creates an environment which combines suggestions of traditional Moroccan architecture and color and contemporary neutral minimalism. The result is an unusually harmonious and clear presentation of the exhibition materials. Sara Schrager designed the lighting.
Hamid Fardjad was born in Iran and studied filmmaking in Belgium. He has worked professionally as a director in film, video and theater for close to 30 years and has been in the United States since 1976. Mr. Fardjad also works with video artist Shirin Neshat, who was awarded first prize at the 1999 Venice Biennale. He is currently working on a poetic documentary about Moroccan Jews to be used on television and cinema.
Morocco: Jews and Art in a Muslim Land has been made possible through the leadership support of Mrs. Patti Cadby Birch, the American Friends of the Alliance Israélite Universelle and The Rockefeller Foundation. Major gifts have been provided by The Louis and Harold Price Foundation, The Lucius N. Littauer Foundation, the Wolfensohn Family Foundation, Nathalie and Charles de Gunzburg in memory of David Amar, the Honorable Ronald S. Lauder, The Morris S. and Florence H. Bender Foundation, The Joe and Emily Lowe Foundation, the Milton and Miriam Handler Foundation, Josabeth and Paul Fribourg, The Norman and Rosita Winston Foundation, Du-Art Film and Video and other generous donors. Transportation assistance has been provided by Royal Air Maroc. The exhibition catalogue was published with the aid of a grant from the Maurice Amado Foundation.
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