Biographical Data

Born in Pontchartrain, France, in 1939. He lives and works in Paris and in Siena, Italy. Gérard Fromanger studies at the École nationale superiéure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1965 he gives his support to the Salon de la Jeune Peinture and, later, will become one of its organizers. In May, 1968, he has a leading role in the Atelier Populaire des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Since the decade of the 70’s he has exhibited with artists belonging to the Figuration Narrative movement.

Brief Chronology 

Between 1966 and 1968, Gérard Fromanger creates pieces of cut out wood and he lets glycerophtalic paint drip past the form (Le Tableau en question and Paysages découpés series). In 1968 he installs Souffles, his large translucent “half balloon” shaped and colorful street sculptures allow the Parisian pedestrians to see a painted city. In 1968 and 1969, in collaboration with Jean-Luc Godard, he makes Film-tracts in London, Paris and Stockholm. In 1971, for the series Boulevard des Italiens, he uses pictures of pedestrians, cars, shop windows or the city and enlarges and projects them on canvas. He just uses the silhouette of his figures, often painted on smooth surfaces in dark cadmium red (“my taste for red is omnipresent”), but represents in more detail secondary figures and decorative aspects. Later on, he works with paintings giving them a social and political character (Vie et mort d’un mineur, 1972; La mort de Caïus Gracchus, 1975). He makes portraits of his friends (Portrait de Michel Foucault, 1976; Portrait de Serge July, 2005). At the end of the 70’s, he uses geometrical shapes, intertwined threads of different colors, writings and figures and mixes them on canvas (Tout est allumé series, Le Palais de la découverte series, Chimères series). In the 90’s he begins painting portraits and landscapes that are a synthesis of his work (Quadrichromies, Rhizomes; Sens dessus dessous).

P.L.T.

Sens dessus dessous, tête à tête, rouge, jaune, bleu, 2008, Acrylic on canvas, 200 x 150 cm / 78,7 x 59,0 in.