Maurice Bompard, Ouled-Naïl of Biskra, 1898, a dancer

I was wandering around the Institut du Monde Arabe which advertises its Simbad exhibition extensively and I felt a little disppointed by the « seafaring adventurers ». There are a few good pieces of furniture in wood and mother of pearl from Goa, and some nice models of boats from the red Sea, a XV th century glass pearls necklace from Venice but the real surprise was an exhibition on the bottom floor of the museum, of paintings and photographs of the oasis of Biskra in Southern Algeria.

An advertisement for chocolate painted in Biskra in 1910

I doubt that access to its International airport is easy at the moment but I came out of the exhibition wanting to fly to Southern Algeria immediately… Occupied by Duc d’Aumale as early as 1844 when he fought Abdel Khader, Biskra, lies 400 kms south east of Algiers at the entrance of the Sahara desert and was already a prominent Berbère town in the Middle Ages.

André Gide in Biskra, 1896

Our ancestors from the turn of the century used to go in the winter for « l’hivernage », as the number of chic hotels show. Photographs by Jacques Félix Moulin and Auguste Maure, who had a studio there since 1860, tell us of the fascinating sense of adventure that many intellectuals (André Gide in 1896) and painters (Fromentin to Henri Matisse) had then.

Oscar Kokoschka painted the exodus through the Sfa pass in 1928 and before him, in 1906, Henri Matisse was attracted by the incredible saharian light in a pink painting of the street.

Henri Matisse, A street in Biskra, 1906

Advertisers used scenes of camels and the desert, which obvioulsy fascinated people who could not travel. And posters from Biskra, “centre d’excursions !” are dreamlike adds for the Paris Orléans railway company.
(Until January 22, Institut du Monde Arabe)