Abdelkrim Ghattas was part of the first generation of students at the Casablanca Art School under the direction of Farid Belkahia, and became very close to the pioneering artists who were reinventing their culture with new approaches: Melehi, Chabâa, Hamidi. Born in the medina of Casablanca, in a historic house that today bears a plaque recognizing the artist, he entered the Beaux-Arts de Casablanca in 1964 and spent four years there, before heading off to the Beaux-Arts de Paris in 1968.
On his return, the artist followed in the footsteps of Melehi, Toni Maraini, Bert Flint, Mohamed Chabâa and Jacques Azéma to teach at the École de Beaux-Arts de Casablanca, now internationally recognized as a laboratory for indigenous artistic creation. Defender of Moroccan heritage and hard-edge abstraction, Abdelkrim Ghattas continues to explore themes of geometric abstraction and ultra-dynamic chromaticism.