Casbah of Algiers
Racim was born in 1884 into a distinguished family of artists of Turkish descent whose pre-colonial prosperity had been undermined by the French regime's confiscation of property. After his studies, and a year passed in Madrasa Thaalibia, Racim worked in the family workshop which his father had re-established as a wood-carving and copper-working workshop in the Casbah of Algiers where he engraved decorated tombstones. The Racim family won commissions for decorating public buildings and the pavilions of French colonial exhibitions.