• Fascinated by The Thousand and One Nights throughout his artistic career Nja Mahdaoui has presented numerous exhibitions and musical performances,...

    Fascinated by The Thousand and One Nights throughout his artistic career

    Nja Mahdaoui has presented numerous exhibitions and musical performances, and participated in various colloquia and conferences centered on the theme of the Nights. Furthermore, he has cultivated a remarkable collection of rare editions of the tale in a variety of languages.

  • La Volupté d’en mourir, conte de ‘Alî Ben Bakkâr et Shams an-Nahâr

  • In 1992 Nja Mahdaui creates La Volupté d’en mourir, conte de ‘Alî Ben Bakkâr et Shams an-Nahâr, tiré des Mille...
    In 1992 Nja Mahdaui creates La Volupté d’en mourir, conte de ‘Alî Ben Bakkâr et Shams an-Nahâr, tiré des Mille et Une Nuits.

    A limited edition (40/40) portfolio of original silkscreens on Arches vellum paper, at the Atelier Paul Mabboux in Ecully, France.

    Bibliothèque nationale de France (Réserve des livres rares), Paris
    Brooke Sewell Permanent Fund, The British Museum, London

  • This portfolio presents contemporary illustrations for one of the tales, translated from Arabic into French by the Algerian writer and...
    This portfolio presents contemporary illustrations for one of the tales, translated from Arabic into French by the Algerian writer and scholar of Arabic literature Jamel Eddine Bencheikh from three editions (the Bulaq, the Macnaghten or Calcutta II and Mohsen Mahdi or Leiden), offering the most complete version of the tale so far.

  • "This story from the tales of The Thousand and One Nights is told by Sheherazade over a period of seventeen nights (153rd to 169th) and is set during the caliphate of Harun al-Rashid (786–809). It concerns the fatal love between a Persian youth known as ‘Alî Ben Bakkâr and the caliph’s favourite concubine Shams an-Nahâr. The tragic story evokes the atmosphere, tension and luxury of the court, while Mahdaoui’s illustrations based on Arabic letter-forms are a remarkably innovative approach to the relationship between text and image.”

    Venetia Porter

    Curator, Islamic and Contemporary

    Middle East Collections, The British Museum