Georges Valmier, born in April 1885 in Angoulême, France, was among those artists who did not fulfil all their goals, leaving behind him a restricted amount of works. Still, Valmier worked a lot devoting all his energy to art after studying painting with Luc-Olivier Merson in Paris between 1905 and 1909. He then worked under the influence of Cézanne and adhered to Cubism progressively from 1911.
Valmier first painted destructured portraits and went on to produce still lifes and landscapes in that manner in a style close to that of Lyonel Feininger. He exhibited his works at the Salon des Indépendants in 1913 and 1914 but had to enrol in the French army at the outbreak of the First World War.
Back to civilian life in 1919, he went back to work and remained faithful to Cubism. His first exhibition after the war took place in 1921 in Paris where he showed some paintings and collages. The same year he worked as an illustrator for the «Bulletin de l'Effort Moderne», a magazine headed by Paul Rosenberg.
Much attracted by Futurism, he produced masks for Marinetti's theatre and decors for some plays, including Claudel's «Tête d'Or», Georges Pillement's «Cyprien et l'Amour à Dix-Huit Ans» or Max Jacob's «Isabelle et Pantalon».
From 1921, Valmier executed charming gouache copies of all his paintings and collages which summarized his late contribution to Cubism.
Also a good musician, earning his life through many religious concerts, Valmier then appeared progressively detached from reality in his works where lines and curves determining neat painted surfaces played a predominant role in a way close to that of Fernand Léger.
From 1919, he used to give musical titles to his works like «Improvisation» or «Scherzo» but in 1929, he chose to give up cubist aesthetism in favour of total abstraction. Valmier exhibited his works once again at the Salon des Indépendants in 1930 and joined the «Abstraction-Creation» group two years later. During the last part of his life he produced a series of gouaches to illustrate Georges Pillement's «Entre la Vie et la Mort» and executed three large panels for the pavilion of the French railway SNCF company at the International exhibition of 1937 in Paris. He died on March 25th of that year.
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