The Souk of Morocco

Hilda Rix Nicholas was born in Ballarat in 1884, and after studying in Melbourne left Australia for France in 1907 with her mother Elizabeth and sister Elsie. She remained there until 1918 and became one the most acclaimed Australian expatriate artists in Paris. She emerged from her studentship as an exceptional draughtsperson and was celebrated as a commanding figure painter. In France, Rix Nicholas worked between her studio in Paris and the artist colony at Étaples in Brittany, as well as further afield with trips to Spain and Morocco. Her 1912 solo exhibition in Paris launched her considerable reputation as a painter and she had works acquired by the French Government at this time.

If Paris served as a training ground for her figurative work, then it was her summer trips to the luminous landscapes of Étaples and to Morocco that furthered Rix Nicholas’ works as a modern colour painter. Rix Nicholas travelled to Tangier in 1912 and 1914, spending most of her time painting outdoors. Responding to the colours, forms and distinct light of the city, she created some of her most vibrant and abstracted paintings, including 'The Souk of Morocco'.

In Tangier Rix Nicholas responded to the sensations of the city by drawing on the influence of post-impressionist painting. In 'The Souk of Morocco' she uses a bold palette; a chorus of saturated hues against white ground, and paints a rhythmic arrangement of simplified forms. While skillfully composed, the work appears spontaneously sketched as the artist drew from the life and movements of the bustling marketplace. When Rix Nicholas exhibited her Moroccan works in France in 1912 and 1913 it was to resounding critical acclaim, promoting a further trip in 1914 which is when she is most likely to have painted 'The Souk of Morocco'.