FIFTY YEARS ON

Ah, yes: once upon a time there was a pretty young woman from Bremen, Germany, who went to Paris to learn French. There, in the Rodin museum, she met a tall, handsome young man right in front of The Thinker.
How’s that for a start? Sound promising?

So although she was supposed to return to Germany, she hitched up with the charming bearded fellow…. And, well, one thing led to another: they not only discovered a shared affinity for art, in particular a passion for geometric abstraction, but they also produced three children: Diane in 1961, the Gallery in 1963, and Frédéric in 1965.

The eldest child—the author of these lines—took a long time finding her way, because the middle “child” always seemed to be in the way. The youngest of the three, Frédéric, also took forty years to discover his own path—another creative one—by going into the design of light fixtures, starting a small business that is briskly becoming a big one, thanks to the great success of lamps made by Lahumière Design.

But the hero of this story is Anne and Jean-Claude Lahumière’s all-consuming passion for their mission. Ably assisted by the loyal Patrice Blanc and supported by their artists, they have criss-crossed the world, attending art fairs and organizing exhibitions in museums in France and abroad, all in the name of promoting an historic art trend that still has a great future ahead of it.

Being a gallery owner is a wonderful adventure but is also a job that is crazy and risky, to say the least. You have to be tenacious, weathering not only economic storms but also the whirlwinds of fashion; you must possess a good eye and bold judgment, anchoring both qualities in the past even as you point them toward the future. And you have to make mistakes—because that’s how you learn. But above all, you have to keep the faith. Remaining loyal to geometric abstraction in art has become Galerie Lahumière’s hallmark, etched by difficult decisions that sometimes defy business logic. The way Anne and Jean-Claude run their gallery means running a constant risk—the risk of selling nothing at all. Some shows, held for the pure beauty of it all, failed to make an immediate impact on the French scene yet demonstrated Galerie Lahumière’s determination to keep the faith. A faith vindicated by the past ten years of art exhibitions in France.
Ask for the programm !

Diane Lahumière translated by Deke Dusinbere