Cy Twombly, Morocco, 1952/1953
FROM 4 MARCH 2023 TO 2 JULY 2023
The Fondation Jardin Majorelle is pleased to announce the opening of his upcoming temporary exhibition dedicated to one of the greatest artists of the second half of the twentieth century Cy Twombly, Morocco, 1952/1953 curated by Nicola Del Roscio.
This extraordinary exhibition has been mounted in partnership with the Cy Twombly Foundation and the Fondazione Nicola Del Roscio.
For this pioneering exhibition, the three partnering Foundations would also like to extend their deep gratitude to The Menil Collection in Houston, Texas for their loan of Twombly’s 1953 painting Volubilus and to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts for the various archival materials that have enriched the exhibition.
The influential American artist Cy Twombly (Lexington, Virginia, 1928 – Rome, Italy, 2011), known for his fascination with the classical world of antiquity, was equally intrigued by the cultures of the Amazigh (Berber) tribes of Morocco.
During a journey of discovery in the winter of 1952 and the spring of 1953, the young American artist travelled throughout the Kingdom of Morocco with fellow painter Robert Rauschenberg. Together they explored not only commonly visited cities such as Tangier, Casablanca and Marrakech, but also the relatively unknown vestiges of Berber sites at Tiznit and of classical antiquity at Volubilis.
Cy Twombly, Morocco, 1952/1953 explores this relatively little-known moment when the twentyfive-year-old student was first exposed to cultural expressions of the rather uncharted realm of the indigenous peoples of Morocco. Less than a decade after the end of World War II, when Europe was beginning to emerge from the embers of mass destruction and bleakness, the graphic, almost raw, graffiti-like pictorial representations of the Amazigh culture fascinated the young artist.
The renwned French couturier Yves Saint Laurent— known for his daring re-examination of the codes of fashion—would surely have been proud to welcome and be associated with the revolutionary painter Cy Twombly at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech, where young Moroccans, other Africans and visitors from throughout the world will gain a richer understanding of the diverse and inspirational cultural heritage of the Cherifian Kingdom.
Exhibition curator: Nicola del Roscio
Exhibition design: Jasmin Oezcebi
