Jean Besancenot | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jean Girard 24 September 1902 |
| Died | 27 July 1992 (aged 89) Bry-sur-Marne, France |
| Occupation(s) | painter, documentary photographer, ethnographer |
| Years active | 1930s to 1992 |
| Known for | Paintings of Moroccan traditional costumes |
Jean Besancenot, (French pronunciation: [ʒã bɘzãsɘ.no]; 24 September 1902 – 27 July 1992), born as Jean Girard, was a French painter, documentary photographer, and self-trained ethnographer, active mainly during the 1930s and 1940s in the French protectorate in Morocco.
He is mainly known for his illustrated book Costumes du Maroc with ethnographic information and portrait paintings of Moroccans in traditional costumes and other personal adornment, published first in French in 1942. The first ethnographic information on Moroccan fashion, it has been called an "iconic" work of lasting influence on traditional Moroccan garments and how they were worn.[1] Besides several editions in French, an English translation, Costumes of Morocco, was published in 1990. By 1953, when he published his second major work about select pieces of jewellery in Morocco, Bijoux arabes et berbères du Maroc, he had become Head of the Iconographic Service of the Moroccan Office of Information.[2]
His work, composed of detailed descriptions, numerous black-and-white photographs, films, drawings and paintings, testifies to the history and aesthetics of Moroccan cultural heritage of the 1930s and 1940s, still little marked by Western influences. Because of ongoing reproductions and alterations in publications, by art galleries and fashion designers, his photos and paintings have been called "a form of public domain media for 'traditional' Moroccan dress".[3]