Casablanca Fair of 1915 - Misplaced Pages

1915 Fair about crafts in Morocco

Casablanca Fair, 1915
Original poster advertising the fair
Date	5 September 1915 (1915-09-05)–5 November 1915 (1915-11-05)
Location	Casablanca, Morocco
Participants	French authorities in the protectorate of Morocco Moroccan craftsmen

The Casablanca Fair of 1915 (also known as the 1915 Casablanca Franco-Moroccan Fair or Exposition Franco-Marocaine) was a commercial exposition held by the French authorities at Casablanca in the protectorate of Morocco from 5 September to 5 November 1915. It was intended to encourage better economic ties between France and Morocco and as a demonstration of French power in the region. Goods from across Morocco were displayed at the fair and allowed French scholars to assess the state of the craft industry in Morocco. Their findings resulted in the establishment of training centres for Moroccan craftsmen in an attempt to encourage the industry.

Origins

The French had held a protectorate over Morocco since the Treaty of Fez in 1912 and were engaged in pacification and occupation of much of the country through military operations such as the Zaian War. The French resident-general, Hubert Lyautey, wished to open up the Moroccan markets to French goods and to better integrate Moroccan industries with those of France. The Casablanca fair was the first of several held to further this aim and to demonstrate French power in the region.

The fair

The fair was held between 5 September and 5 November despite the ongoing First World War and indeed occurred during the "deadliest moment of the war in France". The organisation of the fair was managed by the French authorities, though they encouraged the participation of the Moroccan population in the fair itself. Separate pavilions were erected to house displays representative of the products of each region of Morocco and for at least one government body, there were also tents erected in which Moorish merchants displayed their goods and various curiosities. The fair was also the catalyst for the creation of a fire department for Casablanca.

Pavilion	Display
Rabat-Salé region	Carpets, blankets, embroideries, rush mats, inlaid wood
Mogador region	Wooden engravings, chased silver jewellery
Marrakesh region	Carpets (from Houz and the High Atlas), Arab and Berber jewellery, brassware, wooden items and pottery
Meknes region	Carpets and blankets (from the Middle Atlas), embroidery and painted wood
Fes region	Sculpted and painted wooden furniture, engraved stuccos, embroidered silk banners and emblems, needle embroidery, lacework, faience mosaics, Berber carpets and glazed pottery
Chaouia region	Not known
General Administration of Public Instruction (government body)	Drawings produced by pupils of the new grammar and vocational schools
Engineering	Including a display of trenches used in military engineering

Outcomes

One objective of the fair was to inventory all the items that Morocco imported from Europe so that the French could plan to provide these directly in the future. In addition scholars used the fair to undertake studies on all the resources that Morocco could offer, including her craft industries, and to better organise their exploitation. The scholars concluded that earlier Moroccan pieces were of better quality. They considered that the height of the craft industry had passed with modern items showing a decline in quality of design, raw materials, pigmentation and skill of the craftsmen. Encouraged by examples of work produced by Moroccan children in the new grammar and vocational schools (displayed at the fair by the General Administration of Public Instruction), the French authorities believed that a new generation of craftsmen could be trained at such establishments. They subsequently ran adult education programmes and apprenticeship schemes at the schools, in which Moroccans were taught to copy older examples of craftware collected by French specialists. Two "Inspection Offices of the Native Craft Industry" were established at Fes and Rabat with attached museums and workshops to serve as centres for new Moroccan craftware production. Replicas of older items were housed in the new museums and also sent to exhibitions in Morocco and abroad where they were offered for sale.

References

^ Irbouh, Hamid (2005). Art in the Service of Colonialism: French Art Education in Morocco, 1912-1956. New York: I.B. Tauris & Co. p. 59. ISBN 1-85043-851-X.
Burke, Edmund (1975). "Moroccan Resistance, Pan-Islam and German War Strategy, 1914–1918". Francia. 3: 449. Archived from the original on 2019-01-29. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
Mouret, Charles (1915). "Le Maroc pendant la guerre et l'exposition de Casablanca". Annales de Géographie. 23 (132): 437–442. doi:10.3406/geo.1915.8021.
^ Jerrold, Laurence (1916). France to-day. London: John Murray. p. 123.
"Les Sapeurs-pompiers techniciens tous risques". L'Economiste. 30 May 1996. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
^ Irbouh, Hamid (2005). Art in the Service of Colonialism: French Art Education in Morocco, 1912-1956. New York: I.B. Tauris & Co. p. 60. ISBN 1-85043-851-X.

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Africa	Freetown 1865 Cape Town 1877 Kimberley 1892–1893 Johannesburg 1936–1937
Asia	Calcutta 1883–1884 Hanoi 1902 Nanking 1910 Semarang 1914 Hangzhou 1929 Taihoku (Taipei) 1935 Nagoya 1937 Clark 1998 Shenyang 2006 Chiang Mai 2011–2012 Udon Thani 2026
Europe	London 1760 Dublin 1853 Manchester 1857 Porto 1865 Stockholm 1866 London 1871–1874 Lyon 1872 Vienna 1873 Amsterdam 1883 Liverpool 1886 London 1886 Copenhagen 1888 Glasgow 1888 Frankfurt 1891 Prague 1891 Lyon 1894 Oporto 1894 Berlin 1896 Stockholm 1897 Glasgow 1901 Cork 1902 London 1905 London 1906 Marseille 1906 Dublin 1907 London 1908 Zaragoza 1908 London 1910 Dresden 1911 London 1911 London 1912 Lyon 1914 Cologne 1914 London 1914 Kristiania 1914 Malmö 1914 London 1921 Marseille 1922 Gothenburg 1923 British Empire Exhibition 1924–1925 Antwerp 1930 Stockholm 1930 Paris 1931 Porto 1934 Glasgow 1938 Stockholm 1943
North America	New York City 1826–1897 Bryant Park, New York City 1853 Atlanta 1881 Louisville 1883–1887 New Orleans 1884 Atlanta 1887 San Francisco 1894 Atlanta 1895 Nashville 1897 Omaha 1898 Buffalo 1901 Charleston 1901–1902 Portland, Oregon 1905 Jamestown 1907 Seattle 1909 Knoxville 1913 San Diego 1915–1917 Bronx 1918 Philadelphia 1926 San Diego 1935–1936 Dallas 1936 Cleveland 1936–1937 Dallas 1937 San Francisco 1939–1940 Chicago 1940 New York City 1964–1965
Oceania	Melbourne 1866 Sydney 1870 Melbourne 1875 Brisbane 1876 Sydney 1879 Adelaide 1887 Melbourne 1888 Dunedin 1889 Christchurch 1906 Auckland 1913–1914 Dunedin 1925 Wellington 1939–1940
South America	Lima 1872 Santiago 1875 Quito 1909 Buenos Aires 1910 Rio de Janeiro 1922

Postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic
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v t e List of national and world's fairs in Africa
1865 Sierra Leone Exhibition 1877 South African International Exhibition (Cape Town, Cape Colony) 1892 South African and International Exhibition (Kimberley, Cape Colony) 1915 Casablanca Fair (Casablanca, French protectorate in Morocco) 1930 Oran Exposition (Oran, French Algeria) 1936 Empire Exhibition, South Africa (Johannesburg, Union of South Africa)

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