Noel Bensted Exhibition - not to be missed!

Noel Bensted's "Out of the Shadows" exhibition is open now in Fez at the ALIF Riad, 6 Derb Drissi, Batha. It is certainly worth a visit

Bensted arrived in Fez in December of 2012 seeking light and calm, away from the gloom of London, and was enchanted.

Here was a city and way of life that had echoes stretching back to antiquity through the Arab Golden ages, yet still continuing, notwithstanding the "Ville Nouvelle" and modern, instant communication. Daily patterns are seen that would have been familiar a thousand years ago.

For Bensted, an incurable romantic and a lover of southern light and the great European masters of the 17th century, every street corner had a light source reminiscent of a Caravaggio, an old man resembling a Rembrandt portrait, children looking like the paintings of Murillo, and fabrics and draperies out of Ancient Rome.

The courtesy, manners, and welcome was given in the Fes Medina were unlike anything he had experienced before. Whilst drawing and painting in the Medina people often went out of their way to make him comfortable and welcome. The wonderful sharp light, striking faces, and bleached colours of the ancient city daily enrapture him.

The exhibition continues daily 4-6 PM through May 26
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