# Casablanca School Graphic Modernism

> A postcolonial modernism formed at the Casablanca fine-art school under Farid Belkahia, where Mohamed Melehi, Mohammed Chabâa and colleagues set Amazigh rugs and jewellery, painted ceilings and calligraphy beside a Bauhaus-style merging of art, craft and design. Its language of hard-edged waves, arcs and emblems in flat saturated colour ran across the covers of Souffles and Intégral, solidarity posters, logos, murals and interiors.

- Period: 1962–1987
- Where: Middle East & North Africa
- Origin: École des Beaux-Arts, Casablanca, under Farid Belkahia (director 1962–1974); with Rabat and Marrakech, Morocco
- Branch: Rational modernism
- Also known as: Casablanca Art School, École des Beaux-Arts de Casablanca (Belkahia era), Souffles graphics
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/casablanca-school/

## Use it with care

The Amazigh rug, jewellery and tattoo signs the school abstracted remain living, largely women's craft vocabularies in rural Morocco. Follow the school's approach of transforming and crediting sources, and work with makers, rather than copying specific rugs or signs as decoration.

## How it works

- Abstract motifs from local craft (Amazigh rugs and jewellery, painted ceilings, calligraphy) into hard-edged modernist form instead of quoting them literally.
- Paint repeated undulating bands, arcs and flames in flat, saturated colour with crisp edges and no modelling.
- Use one visual language for paintings, covers, posters, logos, murals and interiors, erasing the line between art and design.
- Treat the poster as 'a painting that is accessible to all' and take work out of the salon into streets and squares.
- Anchor a publication on one bold emblem, as Melehi's black sun did for Souffles, and repeat it issue after issue as its identity.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Isolated object](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/isolated-object/) (characteristic)
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (characteristic)
- [All-over field](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-over-field/) (occasional)
- [Full bleed](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-bleed/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (defining)
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (characteristic)
- [Measured density](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/measured-density/) (characteristic)

### Typography
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (characteristic)
- [Brush & pen calligraphy](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/brush-and-pen-calligraphy/) (characteristic)
- [Geometric sans](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-sans/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (defining)
- [Full polychrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-polychrome/) (characteristic)
- [Complementary clash](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/complementary-clash/) (characteristic)
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (characteristic)
- [Earth & mineral](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/earth-and-mineral/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Non-representational](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/non-representational/) (defining)
- [Biomorphic curves](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/biomorphic-curves/) (characteristic)
- [Angular & zigzag](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/angular-and-zigzag/) (characteristic)
- [Geometric primitives](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-primitives/) (characteristic)
- [Optical pattern](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/optical-pattern/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (defining)

### Ornament
- [Folk & sacred symbols](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/folk-and-sacred-symbols/) (characteristic)
- [Geometric tessellation](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-tessellation/) (characteristic)

### Imagery
- [Pattern & repeat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pattern-and-repeat/) (characteristic)
- [Typography only](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/typography-only/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Offset printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/offset-printing/) (characteristic)
- [Hand-painted](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-painted/) (characteristic)
- [Architecture & signage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/architecture-and-signage/) (characteristic)

### Tone & intent
- [Utopian & idealistic](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/utopian-and-idealistic/) (defining)
- [Rebellious & subversive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rebellious-and-subversive/) (characteristic)
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (characteristic)
- [Agitational & persuasive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/agitational-and-persuasive/) (occasional)
- [Warm & approachable](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/warm-and-approachable/) (occasional)

Avoids: Illusion of depth, Naturalistic depiction, Gradients, Painterly brushwork, Gloss & highlights, Ironic & self-aware

Palette: #f07a28, #e5508a, #2f9a5b, #1e57a8, #141414, #f3ead8

Typefaces: Neo-calligraphic Arabic display lettering (taught by Mohammed Chabâa), Hand-drawn mastheads for Souffles, its Arabic edition Anfas, and Intégral

Known for: Mohamed Melehi, cover emblem for the first issue of Souffles (1966); Mohammed Chabâa and Mohamed Melehi, design of Souffles (1966–1972); Intégral magazine (1971–1977), founded by Toni Maraini and Mohamed Melehi; Melehi's wave cover for its first issue; Présence Plastique open-air exhibitions, Jemaa el-Fna, Marrakech, and Casablanca (1969); Chabâa and Melehi, official poster for the International Art Exhibition for Palestine, Beirut (1978); Interiors by the architects Faraoui & de Mazières with Belkahia, Chabâa and Melehi (1967–1982)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Bauhaus](https://stylogeny.com/styles/bauhaus.md) (1919–1933)
- Influenced by: [Islamic Geometric & Calligraphic Tradition](https://stylogeny.com/styles/islamic-geometric.md) (c. 690–present)
- Influenced by: [Op Art Graphics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/op-art.md) (1960–1975)
- Influenced by: [Hurufiyya Calligraphic Modernism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/hurufiyya.md) (1949–present)
- Influenced by: [Amazigh Sign System & Tifinagh](https://stylogeny.com/styles/amazigh-sign-system.md) (c. 0–present)
- Alike in its design choices: [Soviet Central Asian Ornamental Modernism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/soviet-central-asian-modernism.md) (1966–1999), 64% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Chinese Paper-Cut (Jianzhi)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/chinese-paper-cut.md) (c. 500–present), 64% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Indian Institutional Modernism (NID)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/indian-modernism.md) (1961–1990), 64% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Mongol Bichig Calligraphy & Ugalz Ornament](https://stylogeny.com/styles/mongol-bichig-ornament.md) (c. 1204–present), 64% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Ndebele Geometric Painting](https://stylogeny.com/styles/ndebele-painting.md) (1940–present), 61% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Kōwhaiwhai & Toi Māori Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/maori-kowhaiwhai.md) (1500–present), 57% alike

## Real works

- [Belkahia Chebaa Melehi](https://www.moma.org/collection/works/7961): Mohamed Melehi, 1966, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (700.1966)
- [Seduction](https://www.moma.org/collection/works/444862): Mohamed Melehi, 1975, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (57.2023)
- [Untitled](https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/chabaa-untitled-t16185): Mohammed Chabâa, 1977, Tate (T16185)
- [Souffles, no. 1 (first quarter 1966), cover](https://archive.swarthmore.edu/clicnet/souffles/s1/0.html): Mohamed Melehi (cover emblem); review directed by Abdellatif Laâbi, 1966, Souffles digital edition (Abdellatif Laâbi / CLICnet), Swarthmore College archive
- [Untitled](https://www.barjeelartfoundation.org/collection/mohammed-hamidi-untitled-2/): Mohammed Hamidi, 1971, Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah

## Sources

- Tate St Ives, 'The Casablanca Art School' exhibition guide: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-st-ives/casablanca-art-school/exhibition-guide
- Schirn Mag, on art and magazine publishing in the 20th-century Arab world (Souffles, Intégral): https://www.schirn.de/en/schirnmag/kunst-und-zeitschriftenpublizistik-im-arabischen-20-jahrhundert-2/
- Wikipedia: Souffles (magazine); Mohamed Melehi

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Casablanca School Graphic Modernism”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/casablanca-school/