GRANATA Louis (1901-1964) - Berber Dancer. Oil on panel, signed and dated 1933 lower left. 75 x 95 cm (remains of exhibition label lower right, some wetness).
After studying at the Beaux-Arts d'Alger, he was awarded first prize for painting in 1916. A pupil of Rochegrosse, he travelled the Sahara alongside Dinet and Kabylia with Savorgnan de Brazza. In 1922, the State bought him "The Blind Man and the Paralytic" for the Colonial Exhibition. In 1930, he was awarded the Prix du Centenaire by the Union Artistique de l'Afrique du Nord. The following year, he founded the Société libre de l'artiste algérien, which later became the Société des arts et lettres de l'Afrique du Nord. In the 1960s, he was considered one of the greatest contemporary Orientalist painters. In a rather classical style, he painted many portraits, as well as landscapes and seascapes.
