Mahdi Qotbi

Morocco, b.1951

After getting his initial art training at École des Beaux Arts in Casablanca, Mahdi Qotbi went on to the Éole des Beaux Arts in Toulouse and subsequently to the École Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris, experimenting with different media and styles. Qotbi’s undulating calligraphic paintings are an example of the successful marriage between freehand Western modern techniques and regulated Islamic decorative traditions.