Biography

1937

Birth of Jacques Georges Cordier on August 11th, in Bois-Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine).

1937-1948

Childhood at n°8 and then n°2 of the place Dancourt in Paris (today place Charles Dullin).
During the occupation his father was taken prisoner in Germany. Mother and child stayed in Carpentras with the maternal grandmother.
He was a scholar in the school on Rue Lepic since 1943. He stood out in drawing, but other subjects left him indifferent.

1937

Birth of Jacques Georges Cordier on August 11th, in Bois-Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine).

1937-1948

Childhood at n°8 and then n°2 of the place Dancourt in Paris (today place Charles Dullin).
During the occupation his father was taken prisoner in Germany. Mother and child stayed in Carpentras with the maternal grandmother.
He was a scholar in the school on Rue Lepic since 1943. He stood out in drawing, but other subjects left him indifferent.

1949-1956

His vocation for painting was firmly established. May be, under the influence of his great-uncle, the sculptor Charles Cordier (1827-1905).
His parents were happy with this as long as he attended specialist courses as a secondary scholar at the college, Rue Manin. He made friends with Franck Rathier de Heekeren and his brother Gilles, then with their parents who owned the château des Brouillards on the top of Montmartre hill.
He was treated as one of the family and had access to a vast workshop, because in his parents’ house he had much less space and could only produce small drawings.

1956-1959

Hung on the walls of the restaurants where his father worked, Cordier sold his first drawings in India Ink. Landscapes only: Paris and the surrounding area, Ile de France, Normandy and Brittany.
At the Liberty’s, the renowned cabaret restaurant, Cordier sold his first painting to Jean Prodhon, the owner of Carven perfumes. Jean Prodhon, Yves Biancheri and Peter Broc put together a financial group that ensured the artist’s daily expenses in exchange for paintings.
It enabled Cordier to abandon his studies that took place at the Frochot academy and the Superior School of Drawing, Rue Froment.

1957

Exhibition for the Adults and Youth of today. Modern Art Museum, Paris.

1958

Participation in the painting exhibition at Nationale and at Grand Prix International of painting in Cannes.

1959

Personal exhibition at Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo.

 

 

19601962

Military service in the Navy. His classes were held at the Hourtin Camp in Medoc.
He fell ill with double pneumonia and spent a long convalescence in Toulon, wich kept in from having to go to war in Algeria.
He painted his first Mediterranean canvas: Toulon harbour.
He finished his military service at the Ministry of the Navy in Paris. As soon as he had finished his military obligations, he travelled to Venice, where he would return almost every year.
He also travelled to Canada with his friend Geoffroy Pieyre Mandiargues.

1963

He took long trips to Rousseau, a small village in the Cher where his parents owned a small farm.
He drew and painted numerous pictures in the area, especially of the canal and its locks.
He travelled to the coasts of Brittany and Normandy.
He held his first personal exhibition at La Palette Bleue Gallery, Rue de Seine.
He also exhibited for the first time at Indépendants and at the Asnières fair. Fairs that he would stay faithful to.
Exhibition at the Galerie Romanet, Paris, where he would exhibit annually until 1970.

1964

Salon de la jeune peinture, Paris.

1965

Bronze medal at the Modern Art Museum in Paris for his participation in the Salon de l’art libre.

1966

Biennale de Trouville.
Prize winner of the magazine “l’Amateur d’Art” for his participation in the Salon de l’art libre (Le quai à charbon de Genevilliers, 1965).
Marriage with Simone Armando- Barbier, daughter of the owners of the Hôtel de La Ponche in Saint-Tropez. Exhibition at the Georges Barry gallery in Saint-Tropez.

1967

Trip to Morocco. Salon de Juvisy. Exhibition at the Georges Barry gallery in Saint-Tropez.

1968

Medal at the Salon de Juvisy. Biennale de Trouville and Cherbourg.
Journey to Morocco and Sardinia.
Exhibition at the Georges Barry gallery in Saint-Tropez.
Jacques and Simone Cordier open their gallery in Saint-Tropez: “La Ponche”.

1969

Salon de la Nationale, Paris. Prize winner at the Salon d’Asnières.
Personal exhibition at the Georges Barry gallery in Saint- Tropez.

1970

Personal exhibition, Goult Gallery, Chicago.
Personal exhibition, Galerie Ecole de Paris, Paris.
Personal exhibition, Georges Barry gallery, Saint-Tropez.
Encounter in Saint-Tropez with Massimo Campigli who became a friend and who persuaded Cordier to exhibit in Italy.

1971

Personal exhibition, Pinacoteca, galleria d’arte, Rome.
Drawing and water colour fair in Paris.
The couple left the place Charles Dullin for the Villa Flore, Avenue Mozart, where the artist, at last, had a real workshop.

1972

Personal exhibition, Seno gallery, Milan.
Mediterranean cruise from Athens to Beirut.
Trip to Palmyre.

1973

Participation in the exhibition Saint-Tropez et les peintres d’aujourd’hui, Palais de l’Europe, Menton.
Personal exhibition, ancienne Douane galerie, Strasbourg. Personal exhibition, Mozart gallery, Metz.
The gallery owner, Robert Mouret, began the project of a book “Rêverie sur la Côte d’Azur”, water colours by Cordier and texts by Jean d’Ormesson.
The death of the artist brought a stop to the project.

1974

Personal exhibition at the Tallien gallery, Saint-Tropez.
Beginning of the series Ménines. Figures appear in work, that up until then, had been devoted to landscapes.
The Cordiers settled in Rue Galande, in the Latin Quarter, Paris.

1975

Voyage to the Caribbean.
Trip to London to see the Turner paintings that were all shown together at the Tate Gallery.
Journey to Basle to see the works of Paul Klee.
December 12th in Lyon, Jacques Cordier died in an accident, at the wheel of his car. His wife Simone, present at his side was only slightly injured.