1951 was a key year in Caziel's development as an abstractionist. Although his dedication to the Abstract cause was clear in his annual submissions to the Salon de Mai as of 1948, it was in 1951 that he told Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler that he could not exhibit at his gallery by explicitly stating: "Je suis abstrait" (“I am abstract”). It was also in 1951 that the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, purchased a monumental work of his.

'Composition 09.51' is a key work in Caziel's development from figuration to abstraction. For several years, Caziel had investigated the possibility of portraying the absence of a figure by erasing parts of it until he was left with only anthropomorphic shapes set against a black background.

Caziel's works are present in the collections of the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris; Vatican Museum, Rome; National Museum, Warsaw.