Gérard Fromanger was born in 1939. His father, from an artistic family, was an amateur painter. From a very early age, Gérard Fromanger painted and drew. Fromanger only briefly studied art (Grande-Chaumière, Beaux-Arts, Paris). He attended evening classes organized by the City of Paris. He made friends with the sculptor César, with Jacques Prévert and with the Giacometti brothers.
In his first period, the artist produced figurative compositions in a range of grays and earthy chiaroscuro. He also drew and became interested in lithography. Fromanger soon changed his style, painting in contrasting flat tints. He took part in the Nouvelle Figuration movement and, in the 60s, established himself as one of the leading figures on the Paris art scene.
From 1964 onwards, the artist took part in group exhibitions (Salon de Mai, Salon de la Jeune Peinture, Salon Grands et Jeunes d'Aujourd'hui, etc.), winning several major prizes. Solo exhibitions were organized in his name (Grenoble, Namur, Paris, Siena, etc.). In 1968, when the general mood of the student generation was one of social protest, Fromanger co-founded the Atelier des Beaux-Arts, which produced thousands of posters. He shoots film-tracts with Jean-Luc Godard.
Fromanger is accustomed to working in series. He created "environmental" sculptures, costumes and sets for the ballet. Fromanger gradually put aside the sociological purpose that had long motivated his pictorial activity in favor of a creation that was specifically plastic, or intended to be. From a formerly militant pictorial activity, the artist moved towards an individual and hedonistic conception; from now on, the pleasure of traces, shapes and colors, for their own sake.