House Of Photography Of Marrakech

Fassie Trilogy, photographs of Commander Larribe, notices d’Alfred Bel.

“I found such charm in living in Fez for around thirty months (March 1914-August 1916), such an interest in my muslim studies, such curiosity to follow more closely the first contacts of our administration with this population of one hundred to one hundred and twenty thousand souls, such sympathetic confidence in all walks of life, especially in ulema and tolba, with whom I constantly had to work, and among artisans, who have always provided me, with perfect good grace, the elements of my personal documentation on their techniques, that I enter, one more time, and always with pleasure, the opportunity to talk about this city and its inhabitants ". These are the words of Alfred Bel's Preface, in the introduction to Photo Albums taken by Commander Larribe.

The exhibition "Photographic testimonies, Large Formats », was designed by the Maison de la Photographie de Marrakech.

In the last century, photographers in Morocco sought to fix time, traces of time, men and women, the visible and the invisible, the other. This is the fascination of the Large Formats on display here.
The 26 large formats presented in the hammam built by Minister Mehdi Mnebhi, were photographed between 1880 and 1950, sometimes by anonymous photographers, including here the prints from glass plates, photographs taken by a young couple from Lyon, in 1926, or by famous photographers: de Meyer, member of the American Secession group, refined portrait painter, Pierre Verger, eternal traveler, by photographers based in Morocco: John Manuel, Belin…
Images must circulate and all the more, of the country that welcomes us, the photographs of the Memory of Morocco. That these photographs be accessible: this is our wish. To the visitor "for the pleasure of the eyes", and why not, to those who want to bring back from their stay in Marrakech testimonies of a past time, but infinitely close to us.