Focus collection • Portraits of Paul Guillaume

Unlike the archives, we have a large number of portraits of Paul Guillaume (1891-1934), the art dealer and collector behind the eponymous collection held at the Musée de l’Orangerie.
From the start of his career, the dealer graciously lent his features to painters, photographs, illustrators and more. The artists he showed in his gallery from 1914 used him as a model, following a strategy of mutual promotion that reveals both the affinities and ambitions of both parties.

While the painted portraits helped to build his respectability and allowed him to become part of a long line of art dealers, the photographic portraits enabled his image to be circulated on a wide scale. In both cases, he took pleasure in blurring the lines between official and personal shots. A few drawings illustrate friendly moments between the artists and their dealer. Well-versed in the most modern advertising techniques, Guillaume was all too happy to be featured in reports on his business, including in the places he lived, surrounded by the artworks he was promoting. In the media, he was a key figure of society life. Upon his very premature death, tributes flooded in from either side of the Atlantic, attesting to his role among those who discovered non-Western art and the artists of his time.Paul Guillaume’s obvious enthusiasm for having his portrait made shows us how artists saw him, and the image of himself he wanted to convey.

Inscription sur la partie droite de la photographie :
« C'est vous, / Madame, que je / suis venu / voir - / Bonjour / adorable / Paul »