Painter and printmaker Georges Item was born in Biel, Switzerland, on August 3, 1927. He attended the Biel School of Applied Arts from 1943 to 1947 where he studied lithography, and in 1948 he traveled to Paris, where he studied in the studio of Bernard Clave for six months. This was followed by trips to Italy and the Netherlands to study the works for Van Gogh, Cezanne, and Gaugin. He participated in his first exhibition in 1950 in Biel held at the Watchmakers Federation and began exhibiting steadily thereafter.

In 1951 he married Francoise Miche, with whom he had a son, Pierre Emanuel. They settled in Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France, where Itam lived and worked for the rest of his life. He worked in oils, lithography and woodcuts, encaustic paintings, and murals. He died in 1990.

Selected awards and scholarships:
Grant, Swiss Confederation, 1951, '52, '56
Jurrasian Institute Prize, 1953
Prix du Provencal, Avignon Festival, 1962
Canton of Graubunden prize, 1976

Selected exhibitions:
1950: Watchmaking Federation, Biel, Switzerland
1951: Club 44, Bern, Switzerland
1952: Federal Commission of Fine Arts, Bern
1953: Cavaillion Fair, Cavallion, France; Presence exhibition, Avenches, Switzerland; L'Entracte Gallery, Lausanne, Switzerland
1954: L'Entracte Gallery; Socrates Gallery, Bern
1955: Ulysse Gallery, Basel; Fed. Com. Fine Arts; L'Entracte Gallery; Socrates Gallery; Zopfi Gallery, Biel; Kunzhalle, Bern; Print Cabinet, Zurich, Switzerland; Grand Prix Othon Friesz, Pairs, France
1957: Socrates Gallery
1958: Pasquart Center, Biel; Kunstsammlung, Thun, Switzerland; Labli Gallery, Zurich
1959: Salon Wolfsberg, Zurich
1960: Cincinnati Museum of Art, Cincinnati, USA; Socrates Gallery; Brechbahl Gallery, Barns, Switzerland
1961: Athenee Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
1962: Avignon Festival, Avignon, France
1963: Labli Gallery; Leuenbraggli Gallery, Langenthal, Swizterland
1964: Spinazzola Gallery, Aix en Provence, France; Municiple Office of Culture, Bourg-en-Bresse, France
1965: Hotel Estrine, Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France; Numaga Gallery, Auvernier, Switzerland; Carrefour des Arts, Geneva, Switzerland; Caw Room, Antwerp, Belgium; Ducastel Gallery, Avignon; Stadelhofen Gallery, Zurich; Kunsthaus, Chur, Switzerland
1966: Museum of Fine Arts, Chur; Ducastel Gallery; Hotel Schatzalp, Davos, Switzerland
1967: Gemalde Museum, Lyss, Switzerland; Kunsthaus, Chur
1968: Menton Biennale, Chin, France; Ducastel Gallery; Grand Mezel Gallery, Geneva
1969: International Kunstschau, Klosters, Switzerland; Gallery 57, Biel
1970: Tharin Gallery, Lille, France; Sada Gallery, Nimes, France; Chartreuse, Villeneuve-les-Avignon, France; Noella Gest Gallery, Saint-Remy-de-Provence
1972: Galerie Zahringer, Bern
1973: Athanor Gallery, Marseilles, France; Noella Gest Gallery
1974: Noella Gest Gallery
1975: Art Circle, Bussels, Belgium
1976: Kunsthaus, Chur; Gallery 57, Biel
1977: Noella Gest Gallery
1978: Goethe Institute, Marseilles
1979: Plantahaus Gallery, Malans, Switzerland; Goethe Institute
1981: Noella Gest Gallery; Chateau Gallery, Avenches, Switzerland
1982: Altstadt Gallery, Chur; Schindler Gallery, Bern; Gallery 57
1985: Linder Gallery, Chur; Giacometti Gallery, Chur
1987: Gallery 57
1988: Giacometti Gallery
1989: Studio 10, Chur; Museum of the Alpilles-Hotel de Sade, Saint-Remy-de-Provence; Gallery 57

Posthumous Exhibitions:
1990: Painters Niennois en Provence, Evilard, Switzerland; Doubou Bayol Gallery, France
1991: Doubou Bayal Gallery; Estrine Museum, Saint-Remy-en-Provence; Painters of Midi, Evilard; Giacometti Gallery
1992: Doudou Bayol Gallery; Pasquart Center
1993, '94, '97, 2000 - 2005: Item House, Biel
1997: Doudou Bayol Gallery; Convent of the Ursulines, Saint-Remy-de-Provence
2004: Ars Jurassina, Delemont, Switzerland

More information on Item can be found on his estate's website.