The sculptor César noticed him, lent him his studio and followed his work for two years — Fromanger had stayed only eighteen days at the Beaux-Arts. Close to Prévert and to the sculptors Alberto and Diego Giacometti, to Sartre and Foucault, in May 68 he founded the Atelier populaire at the Beaux-Arts, which silkscreened the posters of the revolt.
The story
The sculptor César noticed him, lent him his studio and followed his work for two years. Gérard Fromanger stayed only eighteen days at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts; he learned the trade at the City of Paris evening classes, at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière.
Born at Pontchartrain on 6 September 1939, he became close to the poet Jacques Prévert and to the sculptors Alberto and Diego Giacometti, and established himself from the 1960s as a figure of the Paris art scene — a position he would hold for sixty years.
Politically committed, close to Sartre and to the philosopher Michel Foucault, in May 1968 he founded the Atelier populaire at the Beaux-Arts, which silkscreened the posters of the movement, and shot film-tracts with Godard; photography would become his raw material only in the early 1970s, when he began painting from his own street shots. He is a major representative of Narrative Figuration.
He died on 18 June 2021. On the grave in Division 42 his name appears twice — carved to the day on the stone, repeated on a plaque. Anna Kamp's appears only once, and without dates.
The grave
A grave with two names and two inscriptions for the same man. The stone bears first “Gérard FROMANGER, 06 09 1939 – 18 06 2021”, in figures, to the day, then “Anna KAMP” — without dates. A plaque then repeats the essentials: “Gérard FROMANGER, 1939-2021”. Nothing of Narrative Figuration, nothing of the screen prints of May 68, nothing of the studio César had lent him.
On site, do not miss
The stone gives his dates to the day, “06 09 1939 – 18 06 2021”, and the name of Anna Kamp without dates. A plaque repeats: “Gérard FROMANGER, 1939-2021”.
Visitors' questions
Where is Gérard Fromanger's grave?
In Division 42, chemin des Anglais, first row — the Division of the film-maker Téo Hernandez and of Félix Guattari. The stone gives his dates to the day, from 6 September 1939 to 18 June 2021, and a plaque repeats them.
Téo HernandezWho helped him at the start?
César: the sculptor noticed him and lent him his studio for two years. Fromanger had lasted only eighteen days at the École des Beaux-Arts; he was training in the evenings, at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière.
Carlos Cruz-DiezWhat did he make of May 1968?
Images: a co-founder of the Atelier populaire des Beaux-Arts, the students' poster workshop, he pulled the silkscreened posters of the revolt there and that same year shot ciné-tracts — short protest films — with Jean-Luc Godard. Few painters drew a body of work from the event itself.
Geneviève ClaisseWho did he keep company with?
Jacques Prévert and the Giacometti brothers from his earliest days, then Sartre, Deleuze and Foucault, who all wrote about his painting. From the 1960s until his death he was one of the figures of the Paris art scene — sixty years in all.
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