Hamid Alaoui

Hamid Alaoui – Composition, 1970

Born in Fez in 1937, Hamid Alaoui trained at the École des beaux-arts in Casablanca, where he won first prize and a merit scholarship. He pursued his studies in Paris at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts and then at the École du Louvre, where he specialized in Islamic arts and museology.

Upon returning to Morocco in 1974, he exhibited at the Nadar Gallery in Casablanca and served as the director of the École des beaux-arts in Casablanca for seven years, before being appointed artistic and cultural advisor in Tetouan. In the late 1960s, his painting evolved toward a refined geometric abstraction where lines, architectural plans, and symmetrical compositions engage in a dialogue through flat areas of color applied with acrylic and later with an airbrush. His work was integrated into the decoration of hotels designed by the architectural firm Faraoui & De Mazières, alongside artists such as Mohamed Melehi, Farid Belkahia, and Mohamed Chabâa.

In the 1970s, he founded the Bab Rouah Gallery in Rabat, which became a major venue for the promotion of Moroccan contemporary art.