Pierre Cordier was born January 28, 1933 in Brussels, Belgium.
From 1952 to 1955, he studied at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
In 1952, he meets the great French poet Georges Brassens, who encourages him to follow "a road not yet travelled and full of obstacles".
On November 10, 1956, he invents the chemigram technique during his military service near Cologne in Germany.
In 1958, he meets Otto Steinert who invites him to attend a course at his school in Saarbrücken, Germany. Being self-taught, this is Cordier's only formal photographic study course.
While practicing as professional photographer, a career he abandoned in 1967, he continues to explore the chemigram: color research (1961); photo-chemigram (1963) and the magical varnish (1972). Between 1962 and 1974, he participates in making experimental films.
From 1965 to 1998, Pierre Cordier is lecturer at l'École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels de la Cambre in Brussels.
In 1967, he exhibits with Denis Brihat and Jean-Pierre Sudre at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
In 1968, he is co-founder with Gottfried Jäger of the Generative Fotografie in Germany. In 1967, he meets Helmut Gernsheim and, in 1977, Aaron Siskind who becomes his spiritual father.
In 1979, he participates in the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in Arles, France: presents Belgian photography, gives his first workshop of his chemigram technique and participates in a film based on a short story by Michel Tournier. In 1988, the Musée d'Art Moderne in Brussels exhibits a retrospective of his work. In 1993, he presents his Homage to Jorge Luis Borges in the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and, in 1996, in the R.I.P. of Arles.
In 1998, he publishes a book and edits, in 2001, a compact disc of original recordings of Georges Brassens.
Pierre Cordier is a member of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie and associate member of the Académie Royale de Belgique, classe des Beaux-Arts, section Peinture et Arts apparentés.
Following his series inspired by Jorge Luis Borges' work (Illegiblebook, La Suma and Topogram), he is currently working on homages to Georges Perec and Henri Michaux and is preparing a monograph.
In 2006, Pierre Cordier Foundation established.
