Georges Marçais


Georges Marçais was a French orientalist, historian, and scholar of Islamic art and architecture who specialized in the architecture of North Africa.

Biography

He initially trained as a painter and writer but after visiting his brother, William Marçais, an orientalist who directed a school in Algeria, he turned instead to scholarly studies. After writing his thesis on Berbers in North Africa, he was a professor at the University of Algiers and wrote numerous books and articles.

Academic contributions

One of his main overall contributions to the scholarly study of Islamic art/architecture was to highlight the architecture of the western Islamic world – the Maghreb and Al-Andalus – as its own regional style which could be distinguished from the artistic traditions in the more eastern parts of the Islamic world. One of his books, L’Architecture musulmane d’occident: Tunisie, Algérie, Maroc, Espagne et Sicile, published in 1954, is still considered one of the standard works on this subject.

Selected publications

Les Monuments arabes de Tlemcen – with William MarçaisCoupoles et plafonds de la Grande Mosquée de Kairouan Manuel d’art musulman: L’Architecture: Tunisie, Algérie, Maroc, Espagne, Sicile, 2 vols. Les Faïences à reflets métalliques de la Grande Mosquée de Kairouan Le Costume musulman d’Alger Tunis et Kairouan
  • "Les Broderies turques d’Alger," Ars Islamica, vol. 4, pp. 145–53
  • "Remarques sur l’esthétique musulmane," Annales de l'Institut d'Études Orientales, vol. 4, pp. 55–71
  • "La Conception des villes dans l’Islâm," Revue d'Alger, vol. 2, pp. 517–33La Berbérie musulmane et l’orient au moyen âge L’Art de l’Islam
  • "Nouvelles remarques sur l’esthétique musulmane," Annales de l'Institut d'Études Orientales, vol. 6, pp. 31–52Objets kairouanais, IXe au XIIIe siècle: Reliures, verreries, cuivres et bronzes, bijoux, 2 vols. – with L. Poinssot
  • "Salle, antisalle: Recherches sur l’évolution d’un thème de l’architecture domestique en pays d’Islâm," Annales de l'Institut d'Études Orientales, vol. 10, pp. 274–301L’Architecture musulmane d’occident: Tunisie, Algérie, Maroc, Espagne et Sicile La Grande Mosquée de Sfax – with Lucien Golvin
  • ''L’Art musulman''