www.privateairny.com Private Air | Winter 2019/2020
62
T
he fascination artist Hassan
El Glaoui (1924–2018) had
for horses began at just seven
years old when his father
gave him and his brothers some pocket
money. e other brothers spent theirs
here and there on frivolous things.
Hassan bought a horse. You might
have thought his father would be very
angry, but he felt it was an excellent
investment. Besides, Hassan's father
liked horses and had a whole stable full
of them.
What sort of father, you might wonder,
gives his son enough pocket money to
buy a horse? He was ami El Glaoui,
a tribal warlord who, with the backing
of the French, ruled southern Morocco
from a power base in Marrakech
for most of the first half of the 20th
century.
Hassan's daughter, Touria, tells the
story of the young boy and his horse, as
she is the 45-year-old founding director
of the 1-54 Contemporary African Art
Fair, which takes place in London,
New York, and Marrakech every
year. She holds an MBA in Strategic
Management and International
Business from Pace University, New
York and before 1-54 spent years
working in banking, tech, and telecoms
around the world. It's hard to connect
this dressed-down, easy-going woman
with a grandfather who, according to
the May 20th, 1957 edition of Time
magazine, ran a feudal empire, the
revenues from which, "ranging from
A daughter recalls the artistic result of
cross-cultural dialogue between a world
statesman and the son of a warlord.
By: Sam Bayoumi
RETURN
TO THE
MAMOUNIA
ART
Portrait of Hassan El Glaoui
