Georges Folmer

To coincide with the publication of a monograph on the work of Georges Folmer (1895-1977), written by Lydia Harambourg and published by El Viso, the gallery is pleased to present a selection of the artist's works. This more contemporary perspective on his art will allow everyone to appreciate his contribution to geometric art. Folmer was also the founder of Groupe Mesure (1961-1966), a group that included artists such as Marcelle Cahn, Günter Fruhtrunk, Jean Gorin, and Aurélie Nemours.

Born in 1895 in Nancy, a cradle of Art Nouveau, Folmer trained in drawing and applied arts techniques before enrolling at the city's School of Fine Arts, which complemented his multidisciplinary education. A few months before the outbreak of war, he traveled to Germany as part of an exchange program. Arrested in August 1914, he was interned as a civilian prisoner at the Holzminden camp, where he created his first drawings and watercolors and founded a small theater troupe. Transferred to Geneva, he enrolled at the School of Fine Arts and held his first exhibition in 1917. Returning to Paris, he was conscripted into the military and sent to Algeria and Tunisia. There, he discovered the power of light and color, as evidenced by his numerous watercolors and sketchbooks filled with life drawings, striking in their precision and graphic mastery.

From the Nabis to Cubism.

Returning to Paris in 1919, he came into contact with the Nabi painter and set designer Henri-Gabriel Ibels, who hired him to create costumes for his theatrical workshop. He frequented avant-garde circles, including Maurice Denis and Paul Sérusier, who exerted a significant influence on his early paintings. His style evolved from Impressionism (Seine riverbanks, landscapes, churches) to a Nabi aesthetic through the stylization of forms outlined in black. This simplification foreshadowed a Cubist approach, beginning with his early attempts to decompose forms and multiply viewpoints: small still lifes.
In 1926, his meeting with Félix del Marle proved decisive, setting his artistic path firmly in motion, leading him to study the theories of Mondrian, Van Doesburg, and Vantongerlo. The subjects of his Cubist canvases were inspired by the world of the circus: harlequins and trapeze artists. By emphasizing the geometric character of his compositions, he achieved the elimination of the subject.

Abstract art:
Abstraction-Creation (1930) Circle and Square Group (1931)

Following his meeting with Auguste Herbin, he joined the activists of Abstraction-Création, became friends with Domela and Jean Gorin, and adopted geometric abstraction, continuing his analysis of Mondrian's writings, which convinced him of the necessity of pure forms.
In 1934, Folmer held a solo exhibition in Paris at the Billet-Worms gallery, which was warmly received by both critics and the public.

The golden ratio.

In 1935, Folmer moved to La Ruche. His studio was located at Coin des Princes. He would leave it in 1968 after thirty-three years. This year was pivotal for the painter: he participated in the first Mural Art Exhibition in Paris, alongside Gleizes, Lhote, Kandinsky, and Gorin. He created his first abstract drawings in pencil, sanguine, charcoal, and ink, and experimented with new mediums such as striated plaster and eggshell. In 1937, the City of Paris commissioned him to create a monumental panel for the International Exposition of Arts and Techniques: Jupiter Throwing Lightning, a figurative interlude in a period during which Folmer absorbed Mondrian's Neo-Plastic theories.
Simultaneously, since 1934, he had been pursuing research on the
Golden Ratio and polyhedra. Guided by his studio neighbor, the mathematician and painter Dimitri Viner, he delved into the mathematical secrets of this knowledge, which he then applied to his painting.
In 1939, he participated in the international exhibition of abstract art at the Galerie Charpentier, a precursor to the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles. Closer ties developed between Folmer, Gorin, Béothy, Del Marle, and Servanes.

In 1941-1942, his abstract maturity was reached with his ink monotypes and polychrome woodcuts. Harmonic Symphony (1942), acquired by the MNAM in Paris, makes open references to the golden ratio.

1945: Creation of the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles

Founded by Frédo Sidès, it was dedicated exclusively to non-figurative works and was held annually. Folmer exhibited at the 2nd Salon in 1946 and in 1948 was among the signatories of the Manifesto. He took a stand against the systematic exclusion of abstract works from official exhibitions and actively participated in meetings organized by Félix Del Marle, who brought together the core group of constructivists from the journal Réalités Nouvelles. Driven by the desire to integrate the visual arts into daily life and the architectural environment, the Espace group was formed with Gorin and Béothy (1949)

1950 “Space Room” at the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles

Folmer was tasked with setting up the Espace gallery under the auspices of Del Marle and Herbin
. His first solo exhibition was at the Colette Allendy Gallery. He presented his spatial constructions, which characterized his artistic language: construction, balance, harmony, and rigor. In a few years, rhythm and light would fuse geometric abstraction with poetic abstraction in paintings whose titles would borrow from Mallarmé's verses.

In 1951, the Espace group, founded by André Bloc, published its manifesto, of which Folmer became an active member alongside, among others, Sonia Delaunay, Fernand Léger, Poliakoff, Gropius, Leo Breuer, Arp, and Aurélie Nemours. Among Espace's projects, he was responsible for designing the student rooms for the Maison de la Tunisie at the Cité Universitaire.
Folmer exhibited his ink monotypes at Art Témoin in Paris. His constructed art was based on the relationships between form, color, and surface.
Herbin appointed him head of the Geometric Section of the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles.
This tenacious builder, according to Michel Seuphor, who considered him one of the Salon's moral pillars, remained the only geometric artist on the committee following Herbin's resignation. In 1957, he was appointed secretary general of the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles.

In 1961, Folmer founded the Mesure group, "Experimental Group for Formal Plastic Research," which he chaired, with Jean Gorin as vice-president. The group presented exhibitions in Germany and at the Hautefeuille Gallery in Paris.
Folmer diversified his compositions by introducing ovoid forms and curves. In 1963-1964, he worked on mobiles and roto-bodies, which he exhibited at the Cazenave Gallery in Paris. Roger V. Gindertaël wrote the preface.
After the Mesure group disbanded, his work advocating a synthesis of the arts continued to gain traction. Exhibitions were organized, but following his departure from La Ruche, Folmer settled in Germany in 1968. His
final exhibitions were held in Strasbourg, and in 1972, his jubilee was celebrated at the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles.

In his small workshop in Neumühl he continued to work on mosaic projects, resuming his readings of Nietzsche, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Gorky.
He died in 1977 and was buried in the village cemetery.

Lydia Harambourg,
Art Historian
, Correspondent of the Institute, Academy of Fine Arts