Claude Lemand, Collector and Donor of 1,300 Works to the Institut du Monde Arabe, Profiled at Moderne Art Fair
At the Moderne Art Fair held at Place de la Concorde, Claude Lemand has established five distinct spaces, showcasing a collection from the musée de l'Institut du monde arabe, pieces from his thriving gallery, and a creative exchange between artists from Algiers and Paris. Lemand, born in Lebanon in 1945 to parents who were orphans due to the Ottoman Levant famine, initially taught at a private lycée before pursuing higher education. He earned a doctorate in comparative literature by 1974, following a French scholarship in 1971. After the onset of the Lebanese civil war in 1975, he relocated to France, where he founded his Paris gallery in 1988, supporting 170 artists. In 2018, he and France Lemand donated 1,300 artworks to the IMA.
Key facts
- Claude and France Lemand donated nearly 1,300 works to the musée de l'Institut du monde arabe in 2018
- Claude Lemand was born in Lebanon in 1945, the fourth of six children
- He saw Shafic Abboud's paintings at Dar El Fan in 1969, his first real encounter with painting
- He was abducted in December 1975 during the Lebanese civil war and freed after one day
- He opened his Paris gallery on rue Littré in October 1988 after leaving the civil service in July 1988
- The couple made their first art purchase in Cairo in 1981
- The IMA held only about 500 modern and contemporary works before the donation
- The notarial agreement provides for rotating annual displays across three of the museum's four levels
- He supported roughly 170 artists, 28 of them non-Arab
- France Lemand is the granddaughter of writer and Resistance member Claude Aveline, who gave 296 paintings to the Musée national d'art moderne
Entities
Artists
- Claude Lemand
- France Lemand
- Abdallah Benanteur
- Shafic Abboud
- Dia Al-Azzawi
- Etel Adnan
- Janine Rubeiz
- Claude Aveline
- André Malraux
- Heinz Berggruen
Institutions
- Institut du monde arabe
- Moderne Art Fair
- Dar El Fan
- Musée national d'art moderne
- Pitié-Salpêtrière
- Arts in the City
- musée de l'Homme
Locations
- Paris
- France
- Lebanon
- Beyrouth
- Syria
- Saydnaya
- Aix-en-Provence
- Sudan
- Cairo
- Egypt
- United States
- Deauville
- Alger
- Place de la Concorde
- Dubai