10.11.2007 - 02.03.2008




Musée École de la Perrine presents Geo Ham - Painter of Speed, Master of Posters. Georges Hamel, called Géo Ham (1900-1972), is one of the major figures in Laval, together with Douanier Rousseau, Alfred Jarry, Ambroise Paré and Alain Gerbault. His native city, aware of his artistic talent, pays this first great homage to him by presenting his works, accompanied by the documented sources (photographs, reviews) and a varied program of animations (car races, projections of movies, conferences, etc).

A passion for speed - Georges Hamel was born into a family with great feeling for artistic & technical developments. His father was a photographer, his mother had a shop for women's clothes and perfumes. He demonstrated very early in life great ability for imitation drawing. In 1911, a plane piloted by a local politician, busy throwing leaflets, flew over the city and landed. In 1913, a race for motorcycles and cars was organized in Laval. These two events hypnotized young Georges and triggered off in him a passion for speed. He started his first sketches. A t the age of 18, Géo Ham moved to Paris and went to the Ecole nationale des Arts décoratifs, under the guidance of Adrien Bruneau. At the early age of 20, he signed his first front page, that of Omnia (a practical magazine on cars) under the pseudonym of Géo Ham. In 1928, he became a permanent collaborator of the generalist magazine printed in great numbers at the time.