Jules-louis Moreteau, "moors By The Sea," Mogador, Morocco, 1929, Oil On Canvas, Landscape

This 1929 work / sketch depicts a group of women bathing at the water’s edge in Mogador, Morocco. It is located, dated, and signed by Jules-Louis Moréteau (on the back of the panel), an artist from Bordeaux who created many of his paintings based on landscapes of North and West Africa. Trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, winner of the Prix de Rome in 1926, and an exhibitor at the 1931 Colonial Exhibition in Vincennes, he also received government grants that sent him to paint the landscapes of French colonial territories. 

This work shows a preparatory sketch created by the artist while traveling throughout Morocco in the late 1920s. Numerous areas left blank are visible, and one can sense the composition taking shape. This work is of particular interest from the perspective of the artist’s creative process.

The work is framed and in very good condition. Its unframed dimensions are as follows: 27 cm wide, 22 cm high.

Here is a biographical sketch of the artist:
Jules Louis Moréteau (1886–1956) was a traveling painter born in Bordeaux. He was a renowned painter associated with the artistic movements known as Orientalism and Africanism. He received his artistic training at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His teachers were Gabriel Ferrier, François Flameng, and Charles Fouqueray. Winner of the Prix de Rome in 1926, he painted scenes of Rabat, Safi, and Mogador. In 1935, he won a travel grant to French West Africa and visited Senegal, Sudan, Guinea, and the Ivory Coast. He exhibited with the Société des Artistes Français and participated in the Colonial Exhibition in Paris in 1931. A paragraph is devoted to him in the book by Lynne Thornton, *em* *Les africanistes Peintres voyageurs* , published by ACR.