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Arts of the Maghreb: North African Textiles and Jewelry

Tags for: Arts of the Maghreb: North African Textiles and Jewelry
  • Special Exhibition
  • Featured
Sunday, November 3, 2024–Sunday, October 12, 2025
Location:  234 Textile Gallery
Arlene M. and Arthur S. Holden Gallery
Free; No Ticket Required

About The Exhibition

This exhibition spotlights the rich artistic traditions of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia during the late 1800s and the early 1900s, through a display of elaborate textiles and fine jewelry in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. These works introduce the specialized skills of North African artists, both Amazigh (Berber) and Arab, Muslim and Jewish, and the diverse aesthetics of their multifaceted communities. The CMA’s founder J. H. Wade II began forming the collection during his personal travels across the region, and many works are on view for the very first time.

CMA Store

Hizam Belt Tote Medium
Belt (Hizam), 1800s Africa, North Africa, Morocco, Fes, Moroccan weaver. Silk, dye, metal; overall. The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1999.253
Hizam Belt Tote Medium
Women Artisans of Morocco: Their Stories, Their Lives
Women Artisans of Morocco tells the stories of twenty-five women who practice these textile traditions with an inspiring energy, pride, and fortitude. For the first time, we have a book that focuses on the artisans of Morocco themselves, those who produce these beautiful textiles that contribute substantially to their family's income while maintaining households and raising children. You will step into the lives of these Moroccan women artisans and gain an appreciation for their artistic skills and ingenuity but also for their strong roles in this supposedly male-dominated society, their fierce independence and determination as they work to improve their economic livelihoods. You will be welcomed into their homes in rural Berber villages, in bustling cities, and in a remarkable desert oasis. You will begin to learn truly what it is like to live as a woman in Morocco and to be part of a rapidly changing society. 168 pp | 200 Color Photos, 1 Map, Four-color Interior
Women Artisans of Morocco: Their Stories, Their Lives
Hizam Belt Tote Small
Belt (Hizam), 1800s Africa, North Africa, Morocco, Fes, Moroccan weaver. Silk, dye, metal. The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1999.253
Hizam Belt Tote Small
Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art
Forward by David Franklin Introduction by C. Griffith Mann with contributions by Curators and Associate Curators of the Cleveland Museum Staff The Cleveland Museum of Art is renowned for the quality and breadth of its collection, which includes more than 40,000 objects and spans 6,000 years of achievement in the arts. Published to celebrate the closing stages of a long-term renovation and expansion, this exquisitely illustrated volume features treasures from the museum's deep and wide-reaching collection including Asian Art, African Art, American Painting and Sculpture, European Painting and Sculpture, Medieval Art, Ancient Egyptian Art, Ancient Near East and Greek and Roman Art, Islamic Art, Art of the Ancient Americas, Drawings, Prints, Photography, Decorative Art and Design, Textiles, Modern Art, and Contemporary Art. 352 pages Published 2012
Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art

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Arts of the Maghreb

Tags for: Arts of the Maghreb
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Throughout the 1800s, professional female embroiderers with the title of mu’allima (expert teacher) trained young Moroccan...
Furnishing textile

Sponsors

This exhibition is made possible with support from the Malcolm E. Kenney Curatorial Research Fund and Anne T. and Donald F. Palmer.

All exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Exhibitions. Principal annual support is provided by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder, the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, the John and Jeanette Walton Exhibition Fund, and Margaret and Loyal Wilson. Major annual support is provided by the late Dick Blum and Harriet Warm and the Frankino-Dodero Family Fund for Exhibitions Endowment. Generous annual support is provided by two anonymous donors, Gini and Randy Barbato, Gary and Katy Brahler, Cynthia and Dale Brogan, Dr. Ben and Julia Brouhard, Brenda and Marshall Brown, Gail and Bill Calfee, Joseph and Susan Corsaro, Richard and Dian Disantis, the Jeffery Wallace Ellis Trust in memory of Lloyd H. Ellis Jr., Leigh and Andy Fabens, Florence Kahane Goodman, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, the William S. Lipscomb Fund, Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Roy Minoff Family Fund, Lu Anne and the late Carl Morrison, Jeffrey Mostade and Eric Nilson and Varun Shetty, Tim O’Brien and Breck Platner, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, Henry Ott-Hansen, Christine Fae Powell, Michael and Cindy Resch, William Roj and Mary Lynn Durham, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, Saundra K. Stemen, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Claudia Woods and David Osage.