Exiled in Algiers

Refugee in Algeria during the Occupation, Valensi published there in 1942 a “vademecum” on musicalism, in which he gave a prominent place to “animated painting”, the direct daughter of musicalism

He executed a model for the windows of “France Combattante”, which marks the beginning of what he will call his “works of gaullist propaganda” (18 watercolors between 1942 and 1944). Convinced citizen, committed painter, militant, Valensi is pleased to be able to support the Resistance and the Provisional Government. His watercolors bear unequivocal titles: “The Three Flags”, “A Goal, Victory”, “The France-Algeria Ring”, “Enroll”, “Subscribe”, “France, Here We Are”.

Resistance involves silence, nobody knew and will not know the role he will have held in the shadows. He acknowledges that he did not take any great risks, but he helped in a communications network in which Camus was also invested.

He continues to paint the landscapes he likes so much: Algiers, La Bouza Réa, Sainte-Clotilde, Hill by the sea.

In March 1945 Valensi was one of the artists exhibited at the “SÈlection gallery” in Tunis. The exhibition “Avant-garde Painters”, an important event, also includes AndrÈ Lhote, Jacques Villon, Jean Fautrier, Janie Pichard, Robert Hue and Jean de Crozals.

The Derche Gallery in Casablanca organized an exhibition devoted entirely to the painter “Henry Valensi: Impressionism and Musicalism” in February 1946, an exhibition that was resumed in March under the simple title “Henry Valensi” at the Alsace-Lorraine Gallery in Oran.