Director: Léonce Barbezieux (2016)

Written text and said by Stéphane-Jacques Addade
In October 1917, Bernard Boutet de Monvel, to whom his bravery on the Eastern front as an observer-bomber was semi-retired, was sent to Morocco. Installed in Fez with his squadron, the painter was immediately dazzled by the Cubist beauty of this city whose race of the sun was changing geometry to infinity. So, after having photographed it, Bernard Boutet de Monvel undertook to paint it every hour of the day in order to retain only the play of the synthetic flat areas and lines of force.
In this short video, Stéphane-Jacques Addade attempts to explain the genesis of this painting at the edge of abstraction, comparing its composition with that of the photographic cliché that presided over its creation, and explaining the re-framing that took place. artist, once the work is completed, so as to reinforce the striking and spectacular arrangement …