The present Doodle praises the 125th birthday celebration of Algerian educator and painter Mohammed Racim. Frequently considered among the first painters in Algeria, Racim fused traditional Persian and Mughal painting techniques to revive Maghrebi cultural customs and redefine the global perspective of the Arab world through art.
On this day in 1896, Mohammed Racim was born into a family of distinguished artisans in Algiers, Algeria, then, at that point a French state. He started working in a colonial drawing office at 14 , where he copied the designs of carpets, Arab embroideries, copper ornaments, and wood sculptures. Every one of these controls affected his craft, however it was Racim’s introduction to Persian miniatures, an old type of literary illustration, that framed the foundation of his oeuvre.
In 1914, he met French Orientalist painter Nasreddine Dinet, who later commissioned Racim to decorate one of his books with original illustrations. During the time that followed, Racim kept on communicating his talent through vibrant miniatures. “The Rais,” his 1931 painting of a 17th-century Algerian captain that actions short of what one square foot, fills in as only one illustration of Racim’s specialty that renewed Algerian pride, which was instrumental in the North African country’s independence development.
Racim’s contributions, including pioneering the Algerian School of Miniature, were perceived at the national level in 1933 when he became the first Algerian recipient of the Grand Artistic Prize of Algeria. Today, much of Racim’s personal collection is shown at the Museum of Fine Arts in Algiers.
There’s nothing miniature about your impact on the universe of art, Mohammed Racim. Happy birthday!