Marcelle Ackein

French orientalist painter Marcelle Ackein was born in 1882 in Algeria and spent her childhood in Algeria. An exceptionally gifted student, she simultaneously studied architecture, sculpture and painting at the Paris School of Fine Arts. Of all the prizes she won, only the Prix de Rome escaped her; her painting was perhaps too “modern” for the jury’s taste. Although obliged to teach, she managed to find time for her own work -seascapes and Breton landscapes-while determinedly pursuing a travel grant to Africa.