Alias Daniel Cordier: Sotheby's Auctions the Spy's Collection

"A work of art is not to ease
but to awaken and hassle the mind."
Daniel Cordier
There is an art auction coming up later this month at Sotheby's (on September 27) that is like no other. Assembled over 70 years by Daniel Cordier, the French Resistance figure and renowned Parisian gallerist, the collection features nearly 400 historic works. It is Cordier's backstory, however, that is fascinating.

"The early life of Daniel Cordier reads like something out of a John le Carré thriller: soldier, spy, resistance hero, art dealer. After parachuting into Nazi-occupied France in 1942 aged 22 on the orders of the exiled General Charles de Gaulle in London, Cordier worked with the leader of the French Resistance, Jean Moulin..." [read more on The Guardian].

"For a year he was Moulin's right-hand man, writing his correspondence and liaising with other leaders. In May 1943 he was on guard outside the building in Paris, when the first meeting of the united Resistance chiefs took place. Moulin's influence on him has lasted through the years. It was the Resistance chief who in the war introduced Cordier to painting and art, leading to his subsequent career as a collector and dealer. And many years later it was to defend Moulin's honour that Cordier took the role of historian and wrote his monumental biography of the man..." [read more on the BBC website].


"You have probably already noticed, for a few days, on the tables of booksellers. A big book, more than 900 pages, with the enigmatic title 'Alias ​​Caracalla' signed Daniel Cordier. These 900 pages are dazzling. They are one of the most accurate, honest, and shocking stories ever published about the Resistance. That of a man whose destiny was doubly exceptional. First because Daniel Cordier was among the first French to join London, from June 25, 1940, at the age of 19 years. Then because he was, for eleven months, the secretary of Jean Moulin, and as such the person who knew best the one on whom counted General de Gaulle to rally around him the Resistance inside..." [read more on Le Monde from 2009].

"Right arm of Jean Moulin, distinguished historian, successful writer, avant-garde gallerist, eclectic collector and great patron of the arts, Daniel Cordier has lived a thousand lives. Daniel Cordier was 24 when he discovered the 'still world of paintings'. This encounter turned his life into an adventure..." [read more on the Sotheby's Alias Daniel Cordier auction page].

"Moulin needed a convincing cover in order to continue to travel throughout France. So he decided to register as a painter and art dealer with the Vichy authority, going so far as to launch a gallery in the South of France in February 1943. Cordier became Moulin’s gallery assistant, and his education in art — which was vital for his own cover to stand up to scrutiny if he was ever questioned — had begun. After the liberation of France in 1944, Daniel Cordier decided to continue his career in the art world and take on Moulin’s role for real..." [read more on Sotheby's blog].

Creative Commons image 5hape2 on Flickr

Daniel Cordier, born in Bordeaux on August 10, 1920, is a resistant, art dealer and French historian. A companion to the Liberation in 1944, he was, after the war, an art dealer, critic, collector and organizer of exhibitions, before devoting himself to the work of a historian. Cordier was founding member of the Centre Pompidou.

To learn more
For sale: treasures of wartime French spy who used art as his cover story - The Guardian
Daniel Cordier: France's last Resistance hero from World War Two - BBC
Alias Daniel Cordier - Sothebys
Daniel Cordier: The Green Hat is Still Green - Chemins de Memoire
"Alias ​​Caracalla" by Daniel Cordier: Daniel Cordier at the most true - Le Monde
Soldier, Spy, Art Dealer: The Gallerist that Resisted Nazi Occupation - Sotheby's


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