Marrakech Art Museum Showcases U.S. Postmodernist Painter’s Amazigh Exhibit

American artist Cy Twombly’s photos, drawings, and paintings—highlighted by his Volubilis work valued in the millions of (US) dollars—are currently being featured in an exposition at the Yves Saint Laurent Museum/Majorelle Gardens Foundation.
Twombly—viewed as one of the forefathers of the Abstract Expressionist era—was provided a grant by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) to travel to Europe and North Africa in 1952, and became enraptured with the hitherto little-known Berber culture of Morocco’s Atlas Mountains.
Alexis Sornin–director of the Marrakech museum–indicated that the emblematic feature of the exhibition was a photo of Twombly taken under an Argan tree, as this embodies his time in Morocco. The snapshot is now featured on billboards and screens of airline companies at the Marrakech airport.
“Twombly’s journey in Morocco was brief but with a long influence as he continued to draw from Rome where he was still thinking about Africa and spending days drawing what he remembers from his trip in Morocco,” added Sornin.
Twombly painted Volubilis in the U.S. in 1953 upon his return from the ancient Roman outpost situated between Meknes and Fes. His passion for archaeology was evident in his correspondence with the VMFA, the financier of his travels. Though he also visited Casablanca, Tangier, and Tetouan, it was his pioneering interpretations of Amazigh graphics in this particular geographical corner of Morocco which would most effectively shed light on the fascinating artistry of the Berber culture.
The exhibit is on display through July 2.