(b Tunis, 20 July 1937). Tunisian painter. He was educated at the Lycée Alaoui in Tunis and from 1959 to 1960 took courses in art history and painting at the Ecole Libre in Carthage. His work was noticed at this time by Ricardo Avérini, the director of the Centre Dante Alighieri in Tunis, and from 1965 to 1966 he attended the Accademia Santa Andrea in Rome, studying painting and the philosophy of art with Giotta Frunza, a student of Brancusi. He also learnt about Islamic and Far Eastern calligraphy with Father Di Meghio and participated in the creation of the first Association of Arab Artists in Italy. In 1967 he visited Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Turkey and Russia, and from 1967 to 1968 studied at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, where he attended courses at the Ecole du Louvre. In 1968 he was employed by the Société Tunisienne de Banque but the following year moved to Paris. He returned to live in Tunisia in 1977, and in the years 1978 and 1979 travelled to Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria and Algeria. In 1981 and 1984 he was commissioned for work in Saudi Arabia at Jeddah airport, the Islamic Bank and at the University of Riyadh. In his paintings during the 1960s he employed such motifs as masks, totem poles and calligraphy to create a lyrical abstract style. He produced his first paintings on parchment in 1972, became interested in weaving and carpet production in 1979, and began to paint on animal skins and on the human body in 1980. Calligraphy became the dominant theme in his work, with an emphasis on its visual qualities rather than its literal significance (see TUNISIA, fig. 1).

• Mahdaoui, Nja
  • works
    • Tunisia, §3: Painting and sculpture