A new exhibition, at the Museu Nacional de Catalunya (Barcelona) is setting out to restore the figure of Josep Tapiró to its rightful place as one of the leading representatives of international Orientalism. Josep Tapiró i Baró (Reus 1836-1913), the first painter from the Iberian Peninsula to settle in Tangier, was a direct witness of the extraordinary urban and cultural transformation of this city, where he lived from 1876 until his death. Throughout those years, Tapiró undertook an almost scientific study of North African society and, apart from its artistic quality, his work is an important testimonial document of a world in retreat before European colonial pressure. The people, sumptuous clothes and spectacular Moroccan and Berber piece of jewellery were accurately painted by [...]