Until July 16, 2023, the Institut du Monde Arabe hosts the exhibition “Tarz. Embroidery in Morocco, yesterday and today”. It offers exceptional collections of Moroccan embroidery highlighting the specificities of cities and regions that have participated in the evolution of this art.
The Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) honors Moroccan embroidery in all its forms through the exhibition entitled “Tarz. Embroidery in Morocco, yesterday and today”. According to the cultural institution, it presents the exceptional collections of Moroccan embroidery of the Museum of Angouleme from the former collection Prosper Ricard but also contemporary creations that come into dialogue with traditional works. It offers an enchanting journey into this delicate and demanding art, refined and intimate, which has experienced various influences and mutations over time. It shows original creations imagined by the artist Fatima Lévèque and realized by two Moroccan workshops, making this exhibition a fruitful dialogue between heritage collection and contemporary creation. “In the footsteps of Prosper Ricard, through the pieces of his collection kept at the Museum of Angoulême – sometimes simple fragments – I dissected, studied, documented, learned. In order to research, analyze, classify, compare, I went in search of his own sources to find points that he had not had the time to study. I immersed myself, my nights populated with embroidered treasures of Ottoman, Arab-Andalusian, Moroccan-Berber arts, and so many others that have fed and enriched the repertoire and techniques, “said the artist designer Fatima Lévèque in the exhibition catalog. To show the richness and diversity, this artist explains that it starts from fragments to revive the entire piece, such as the shawl hammam Meknes, but also create new pieces in a contemporary approach to find the technique of a disappeared point or the style of a school. “This way of proceeding allowed to approach a heritage, stylistic and technical with the embroiderers engaged in Morocco at my side. If it has unfortunately confirmed the disappearance of much knowledge, this project has allowed the embroiderers to find some, even exceed them, as for the realization of the hanging garden, “she adds.
The exhibition “Tarz, Embroidery in Morocco, yesterday and today” indeed offers visitors an unprecedented discovery of the specificities of cities and regions that have, through the ages, participated in the emergence and evolution of Moroccan embroidery, in this case Fez, Rabat, Salé, Azemmour, Chaouen, Tetouan, Meknes, Tafilalt and the Anti-Atlas. Embroidery is a universal art, mainly practiced by women, to enhance the luxury of clothing and interiors. Work of patience and rigor, it relies as much on manual skill as on artistic intuition and rational thought.
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