La Hune

La Hune was a historic bookstore and art gallery located in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés quarter of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. Established in 1949 by Bernard Gheerbrant at 170 Boulevard Saint-Germain, it became a vital cultural landmark by merging literary retail with exhibition spaces for graphic arts, engraving, and photography. After decades of operation and multiple relocations, the original institution closed. Today, the name persists at a different address as a bookstore-gallery dedicated exclusively to art photography, operated by the French publisher YellowKorner.

The venture began on June 1, 1944, when Sorbonne philosophy students Bernard Gheerbrant, Jacqueline Lemunier, and Pierre Roustang opened the original La Hune at 12 Rue Monsieur-le-Prince. Named for the topsail or crow's nest of a ship, a reference to its corner location and internal staircase, the shop hosted nine exhibitions in its early years. Following the Liberation of France, Roustang departed, and Gheerbrant and Lemunier married. In October 1945, they hired bookseller Jacques Farny to manage daily sales, freeing them to expand cultural programming. Outgrowing the space, Gheerbrant relocated the operation to 170 Boulevard Saint-Germain, officially opening on May 12, 1949. In 1975, the business split: the bookstore remained on the boulevard while the gallery moved to 14 Rue de l'Abbaye. Flammarion acquired the bookstore in 1981, and Gheerbrant continued directing the gallery until 1991, when collaborator Marc Eschenbrenner took over, renaming it Galerie La Hune-Brenner. That gallery moved to the 18th arrondissement in late 2007 and closed permanently in 2014. Meanwhile, the Flammarion-owned bookstore was sold to the Madrigall group in 2012, and the premises were sold to Louis Vuitton. The bookstore moved to the former gallery space on Rue de l'Abbaye but ultimately closed on June 14, 2015. Madrigall then sold the space and the La Hune name to YellowKorner, which reopened it in November 2015 as a photography-focused venture, a move decried as an usurpation by the founder's son, filmmaker Denis Gheerbrant.

From its inception, La Hune cultivated a dual identity as a general bookstore with a strong art section and an active exhibition gallery. Its programming was notably diverse, though printmaking and engraving dominated its exhibition roster. The gallery explored historical themes, such as Aragon's La Peinture au défi in 1954, and literary tributes, including Hommage à James Joyce in 1949 and Saint-John Perse et la mer in 1962. It also showcased primitive art, notably Dogons, art du Soudan in 1955, and early photography exhibitions featuring figures like Brassaï and Robert Doisneau in 1951. Beginning in 1958, La Hune expanded into publishing prints, championing both emerging and established artists. The gallery later promoted artists like Fred Deux, Cécile Reims, and Bertrand Dorny, alongside publishing bibliophile books, engravings, and lithographs.

La Hune's exhibition history featured significant works and artists across multiple movements. Its first exhibition in December 1944 displayed drawings and watercolors by Lou Albert-Lasard illustrating Lanza del Vasto's Pèlerinage aux sources. A subsequent posthumous exhibition of Louis Marcoussis's engravings set an early focus on printmaking. The 1954 historical exhibition La Peinture au défi presented collages by Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Man Ray, and Max Ernst. In its publishing capacity from 1958 onward, La Hune produced prints for emerging artists like Johnny Friedlaender, Zao Wou-Ki, and Virgil Nevjestic, alongside established figures such as sculptor Henri-Georges Adam and painter Hans Hartung. Later notable exhibitions included painted sculptures by Axel Cassel in 1984, works by Alekos Fassianos in 1985, and pieces by Philippe Favier in 1888.

The iconic La Hune site at 170 Boulevard Saint-Germain occupied a building at the intersection with Rue Saint-Benoît, opposite the brasserie Lipp and between the cafes Les Deux Magots and Café de Flore. Previously a late 19th-century Bouillon Duval restaurant, the space had been abandoned during World War II and briefly used as a military canteen for Paris garrison non-commissioned officers. For the 1949 renovation, Gheerbrant enlisted his friend Pierre Faucheux, a celebrated editorial designer. Faucheux designed the iconic stylized anchor logotype and the exterior showcases. The venue underwent another renovation in July 1969 under the Parisian studio Gérard Ifert and Rudolf Meyer, reopening on October 16 with expanded bookshelves that encroached on the gallery space. The original Rue Monsieur-le-Prince location, chosen for its ship-like corner shape, remained a bookstore, later becoming L'Escalier, which François Maspero acquired in 1953.

The current iteration of La Hune is located at 16 to 18 Rue de l'Abbaye, remaining within the Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood. Now operated by the publisher YellowKorner, the venue functions as a bookstore-gallery dedicated exclusively to art photography. The ground floor houses a YellowKorner gallery and a TeNeues bookstore, while the upper floor features monographic photo exhibitions and original prints. This represents a significant shift from the original institution's broad literary and artistic scope to a specialized focus on mainstream art photography.