Raised in a very poor family barely able to survive on the income from their land, Casimir left to search for work in Port-au-Prince. Sheer coincidence brought him to Le Centre d'Art in 1947 where he began to paint. "Never excelling in anything," as he said, Casimir felt most at home among the anonymous Haitians in his paintings: at the market, at carnival, at cockfights, and at vodou ceremonies. Casimir increased the density of his peopled canvases until they resembled patterns.

Not much is known of Cédor, although he is considered a first generation artist and one who made important contributions to "historicized" painting along with Philomé Obin. Cédor became active with the Centre d'Art in 1947, just three years after its creation.