A student of
Isidore Pils and
Gustave Boulanger, Cordey was part of a group that revolted against the teachings of his teachers with his friend
Pierre Franc Lamy. Cordey quickly abandoned traditional painting to follow the path of the Impressionists and exhibited four paintings
Rue à Montmartre ("Street in Montmartre"),
Le Pont des Saints-Pères ("Bridge at Saints-Pères"),
le Séchoir ("The Dryer", Chantilly),
Pêcheur ("Fisherman", sketch) with them in 1877. He participated in the ''
Salon d'automne from its inception in 1903 until 1908. He was named a member of the Salon'' in 1904, where he exhibited six of his paintings. Cordey exhibited ten paintings at the
Salon in 1906, including six of the banks of the
Oise. He exhibited rarely, however, the art critics
Adolphe Tabarant,
Paul Alexis, and
Gustave Geffroy were very eulogistic in the preface to the retrospective exhibition of Cordey in 1913-1914 at Choiseul Gallery.
Adolphe Thalasso praised Cordey's landscapes from Eragny in a February 1914 report in ''L'Art et les Artistes'' ("Art and Artists"). == Gallery ==