Mogreb-el-Aksa

                                                                              
For the Muslim world, Morocco is Mogreb-el-Aksa, the Far West, a sort of oriental Connemara. I say this because I shall be there this time tomorrow, more or less, and want to take the opportunity to wish all readers a happy and prosperous New Year before I go.

                                                                                      
I shall be posting again sometime soon after the 20th. In the mean time, here is a re-run of colour prints of northern Morocco, with Mary Macrae White's appealing of view of what I believe is Fez at the top (though it could be Tetouan), followed by FG Wilkinson's unusual linocut of Chefchaouen. Unusual because the town lies in the Rif and had not that long been taken over by the Spanish whose first task, as they saw it, was to close down what has been called the boy-market. Sounds unlikely, especially as the first job of occupying Western forces was to set up a quartier reserve, but there you are.

                                                                                 
The sweet market in Tangier no longer exists (I've looked) but many oriental towns still have the kind of place that Ada Collier depicts, as she only could, with her puddles of colour. Other Western colour print artists visited Morocco, but I can't remember offhand who they were, and these are the only images I have ever come across. I looked forward to discovering others in 2013.