Skip to content

The domain AfricanArtists.com is for sale.Make an offer

AfricanArtists.com
Menu

Algerian artists

33 artists

Algeria's art reaches back to the rock paintings of the Tassili n'Ajjer, among the greatest in the world, and includes Amazigh pottery, weaving and jewellery and the miniature painting revived in the twentieth century by Mohamed Racim. Under French rule, though, Algeria was mostly painted by Europeans, and Algerian artists had to fight for a place. Baya exhibited in Paris at sixteen in 1947; Bachir Yellès became one of the first Algerians with a full academic training.

Around independence in 1962, M'hamed Issiakhem, who painted the grief of the war, and Mohammed Khadda, leader of the "painters of the sign", founded a modern Algerian painting. Later artists include Rachid Koraïchi, who works with calligraphy and signs, Adel Abdessemed, the photographer Mohamed Bourouissa — and the singer Rabah Driassa, who also painted. This list brings together Algeria's artists with Wikipedia articles, most looked-up first. See also Algerian painters and North Africa.

Profiles

Painter

Baya

Algeria · 1931–1998

Baya (1931–1998) was sixteen when Galerie Maeght showed her paintings in Paris with a preface by André Breton. Her life, her women and her gardens.

Painter

M'hamed Issiakhem

Algeria · 1928–1985

M'hamed Issiakhem lost an arm at fifteen and became a founder of modern Algerian painting, friend of Kateb Yacine and designer of banknotes and stamps.

Artist

Adel Abdessemed

Algeria · 1971–

Adel Abdessemed, born in Constantine, left Algeria during the civil war and made provocative works such as Coup de tête, the giant bronze of Zidane's headbutt.

Painter

Bachir Yellès

Algeria · 1921–2022

Bachir Yellès of Tlemcen, painter and stamp designer, ran the Algiers school of fine arts for two decades and died in 2022 at 100, the dean of Algerian artists.

Painter

Mohammed Khadda

Algeria · 1930–1991

Mohammed Khadda, a printer's apprentice from Mostaganem, became a founder of modern Algerian painting, turning Arabic letters into a free abstract language.

More artists

Most looked-up first. Names link to our profile, or to Wikipedia where we do not have one yet. Short descriptions from Wikidata; portraits from Wikimedia Commons. Image credits

Better known for other work

Writers, presenters and public figures whom Wikidata also lists here; their profiles explain the connection.

Singer, composer and painter

Rabah Driassa

Algeria · 1934–2021

Rabah Driassa of Blida, the voice of Nedjma qotbiya and Hizia, was one of Algeria's most popular singers, and also a poet and painter. He died in 2021.