Gabriel Gillet
First operator for the Army Cinematographic Service during the Protectorate, Gabriel Gillet (dates unknown) documented numerous official events in Morocco between April 1943 and July 1946, particularly in the Drâa-Tafilalet region. During these trips, he developed an interest in local cultures, particularly for Amazigh collective festivals. Later, he participated in the film Berber dances produced by the Moroccan Cinematographic Center, and published Suite of Berber dances (Rabat, Éditions Studios du Souissi, 1951), an illustrated album of his photographs taken from the film. Gillet also collaborated with Jacques Belin for the photographic illustration of the book. Morocco, directed by Ahmed Sefrioui (Hachette, 1956).
In 2025, the Maison de la Photographie has acquired an album of around sixty silver prints made in Morocco by Gabriel Gillet.
Jean Besancenot
Painter, ethnographer and photographer, Jean Besancenot (1902-1992) made from 1934 numerous stays in Morocco, where he carried out ethnographic surveys for the French protectorate. His work mainly focuses on the costumes and jewelry of Arab communities., Jews and Amazighs. Former student of the National School of Decorative Arts in Paris, Besancenot gave an essential place to the aesthetic value of the cultures observed. This sensitivity manifests itself in a plural work where texts, drawings, paintings and photographs interact to document traditional know-how. Faithful to the systemic approach of the Musée de l’Homme with which he collaborated, Besancenot developed rich visual documentation of more than 2 000 images annotated and methodically classified according to regions and populations.
In December 2024, the Besancenot collection of the Maison de la Photographie was enriched with around thirty prints acquired at public sale and coming from the Sarah Assidon – Pinson collection.
The African fund
The Maison de la Photographie strives to enrich the African collection on the most prominent themes of the collection : purchase of a series on Kapsiki, Germaine Krull, Zagourski, Madagascar…
Earthen architecture
A series of photographs on earthen architecture, the ksour of the Drâa valley in 1933. Anonymous photographer who accompanied the French occupying armies in the Drâa valley. A study currently being published on the Drâa Valley, Tamnougalt "the luminous capital", by the Maison de la Photographie. This study accompanies a restoration project in Tamnougalt and Timidarte.
Didier Madras
Didier Madras was born in 1901 in a family from the southwest of France. He entered military service in Morocco in 1921. This is how he got to know Georges Hutin (1899-1978), Marshal Lyautey's private secretary, who in this position had replaced Pierre Champion, the son of Honoré Champion, the Parisian editor. Didier Madras served as secretary of 1921 at 1934 and accompanied Lyautey on his travels.
After 1934, he carries out photographic campaigns to illustrate his editorial projects. A certain way of photographing is found in Studio Souissi, Besancenot and much less known names: Jeanne Jouin (1894-1986), Therese Le Prat (1895-1966) and Thérèse Rivière (1901-1970). His photographic work is for the first time presented at the Maison de la Photographie in Marrakech in 2018.
Joseph Bouhsira
1890-1943
Joseph Bouhsira is one of the first Moroccan and Jewish figures in the history of photography in Morocco. He started his activities at the beginning of the years 1910, acquired the techniques from pharmacists in the city and opened his first studio in Fez in the Mellah, the jewish quarter. He covered military pacification campaigns in southern Morocco in 1911. Following this trip, he set up a second studio in this region, à Boudnib. His business was booming, which allowed him to set up several agencies (in Ouezzane and Ksar es Souk).
He trained several members of his family, his brothers, his son, now a photography teacher in Canada, and finally his two cousins who opened a studio in Jerusalem. He died prematurely in 1943, leaving behind several albums on the Jewish community of Fez. Two-thirds of his work was lost in the sale of one of these studios.
Felix
A Jewish grinder in Marrakech, towards 1920
Felix worked 50 years in Marrakech, and produced a high quality photographic work
The Maison de la Photographie has an important set which has just been increased by the purchase of a series on trades in Marrakech.
Pierre Boucher
Member of Alliance Photo with René Zuber, Denise Bellon … He visited Morocco in 1936. Exposition “Alliance Photo”, November 2015 – avril 2016.
Postcards
The Hugues Aufort fund: A remarkable collection of postcards on Marrakech from the beginnings of the postcard to the years 1960. The objective of the Maison de la Photographie de Marrakech is to carry out an exhaustive inventory of the postcard in Marrakech.
December 2015 : 120 photographs on Jemaâ El Fna Square. Catalog Limited Editions.
December 2015: The Mellah of Marrakech. Catalog Limited Editions.
Medersas of Morocco by Charles Terrasse, 1924
Published by Albert Morancé editions, the remarkable work of Charles Terrasse contains 70 high quality photogravure plates.