Tangerine dreams

Paintings by Blair and Laurie Pessemier From Tangier, Morocco

We had always wanted to go to Tangier, Morocco, so when a dog sitter volunteered to stay in our apartment in Paris with our beloved Harika, we packed our bags for North Africa. Artists like Delacroix and Matisse spent significant time in Tangier, although the place is most associated with writers like Paul and Jane Bowles, William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, and Tennessee Williams. Ibn Battuta, a traveler and chronicler, visiting 44 countries, was born in Tangier in 1304. Christopher Columbus came here from Cadiz.

Samuel Pepys, writer of the famous diary, lived here in the 1680s. Mark Twain came to Tangier. John Smith, of Jamestown, Virginia colonial fame, named the island he landed on in America, Tangier, after the place close to his heart. Daniel Defoe, of Robinson Crusoe fame, loved Tangier. The list goes on.

Dar Zero, pictured above, is, where Samuel Pepys lived in 1683, as governor from England.

The English presence left Tangier shortly afterward but not forever.

Tangier was an “international zone� governed mainly by France, but also Spain and Britain, from 1923 until 1956. It was loosely regulated during that time. Other Moroccans needed a passport to enter Tangier during this time.

Spain is only 15 kilometers away, a short trip on the ferry. Huge freighters negotiate the straits of Gibraltar, connecting the Atlantic with the Mediterranean. Fierce winds buffeted our canvasses.

The Hotel Continental delineates the old city and the new port, under construction.

Bertolucci filmed Paul Bowles “Under the Sheltering Sky� here. Although the hotel was tempting, we rented a house to spend more time enjoying the charms of the city.

In the afternoons, from our rooftop we painted “other rooftops” .

Burroughs said that "Tangier throbbed with the heartbeat of the world" We agree.

As I painted the Bab Fahs,, the gate to the medina, men painted it a brilliant chalk white.

Stepping into the Medina is to enter a mysterious, shadowy world full of magic and romance.

Tangier is a city of contrasts: athletic shoes poking out beneath 19 th century robes: deep blue skies and brilliant white buildings; advertisements for dental whitening in a city of missing teeth.

I painted the Marabout on rue Ahmed Ben Ajiba, which Matisse once painted. Now this women’s prayer house serves as a community oven for baking bread.

Woman with bread

Children on their way to school, by the Kasbah.

As I painted the crumbling walls of the city, near Bab Bhare , children surrounded me, asking questions, picking up my brushes. After that, our painting was confined to the early morning hours and afternoons on the roof.

Because Tangier had a reputation for readily-available drugs, the “hippies” flocked to the city in the 1960s. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and other performers hung out in Tangier. Some of the more wildly painted walls and pink doors associated with the hippies remain. In this very neighborhood the hit song “Rock the Kasbah´by the Clash was written and performed.

Meet us for Coffee in Tangiers

Laurie and Blair PESSEMIER www.paintfox.com

lfpessemier@gmail.com