MAHJOUB BEN BELLA (1946-2020), CERAMICIST
Exhibition from 28 June to 28 September 2025
For many years, the museum of La Piscine has established close ties with Mahjoub Ben Bella (1946-2020), the Franco-Algerian artist who has been based in Tourcoing since 1946. Several of his works feature in the museum’s collections, including drawings, but also paintings, like the Homage to Vincent Van Gogh, or the more exclusive models of textiles and ceramics created for the La Redoute catalogue.
Today, thanks to the generous support of the friends of the museum and donations from his wife Brigitte Ben Bella, and his children, an exceptional collection of ceramics made by the Masse Fourmaintraux earthenware factory in Desvres has joined the La Piscine museum.
Trained at the School of Fine Arts in Oran, followed by the School of Fine Arts in Tourcoing, before completing his training at the School of Decorative Arts and the School of Fine Arts in Paris, Mahjoub Ben Bella quickly made his mark on the international scene. Before earning the recognition of institutions, the artist first created a number of works in public spaces. Like an avant-garde street artist, in 1986, he painted 12 km of the cobblestones of the Paris-Roubaix cycle race and brightened up the Colbert metro station in Tourcoing with ceramic tiles in 1999. His abstract and colourful artistic language, his motifs and his very free calligraphy with oriental influences, resonate perfectly with the agnès b. We love graffiti!! exhibition.
Curator: Karine Lacquemant, curator of the applied arts collections, La Piscine – André Diligent museum of art and industry
The scenography was created thanks to the generous support of Tollens paint.
This exhibition is presented in the spaces dedicated to the permanent collections, with free admission on every first Sunday of the month.
Caption: Mahjoub Ben Bella (1946-2020), Large black and white dish, 1998. Glazed earthenware from the Desvres factory, H: 13cm, diameter: 65 cm. Roubaix, La Piscine – André Diligent museum of art and industry. Donated by the Society of Friends of the Museum in 2024. © ADAGP, Paris, 2024.
Preview on Friday 27 June 2025 from 6pm.
