Christiane GUYMER

(1927- )
Nationality: French

Born in Paris, France, in 1927, Christiane Guymer's diverse career spanned haute couture, international relations, and avant-garde art.

In 1948, she studied haute couture styling at Ecole Guerre-Lavigne. After marrying English painter Peter Guymer in 1950, Christiane became a press assistant for the French Service of the BBC in London. She then moved to the United States, working at the French bookstore in New York's Rockefeller Center. Christiane returned to France in 1953.

From 1954 to 1988, she dedicated herself to organizing international conferences for an international economic organization across various parts of the world. Later, she was responsible for an information and dissemination service for economic research findings to countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America.

Parallel to her diplomatic and economic work, Guymer cultivated a profound engagement with the arts and intellectual movements. In 1964, she contributed to issue No. 4 bis of UR, the second series of Maurice Lemaître's Lettrist journal. She then collaborated in 1967 on the works of anthropologist Alfred Métraux concerning Indian religions in South America.

Her involvement with the Lettrist movement deepened in 1968, when she participated in the exhibition of the first Lettrist room at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. In 1973, she took part in the First Salon de la Lettre et du Signe, organized by Maurice Lemaître on the terrace of the Palais de Tokyo.

Eleven years later, she directed the Lettrist chisel film: "Le Témoin ou la Timide Espérance" (The Witness or the Timid Hope, English version). This film highlighted the innovative ethics of Lettrism and the "silent world" of the media, particularly in France, which largely ignored the movement for over 50 years. The film was screened at Maurice Lemaître's Cinémathèque Créatrice as part of a program titled "Woman, Creation, Cinema."

In 1988, she oversaw the creation of a new Lettrist perfume bottle and a new perfume named "Anacruse," based on Maurice Lemaître's painting Parfum-autoportrait imaginaire de ma sœur Christiane, which he created specifically for his exhibition "Le Parfum et L’Olfactique – le jardin parfumé."

In 2002, Christiane contributed to Maurice Lemaître's "open film" Nos Stars, a work inviting women actively involved in the contemporary world of innovative cinema. Later, in 2005, she participated in the synoinéme session "La Nuit des L’(Ascars)" at the Côté Cour festival (Pantin)

1 MOVIE IN DISTRIBUTION

  LE TÉMOIN OU LA TIMIDE ESPÉRANCE
1984 / b&w / sound / single screen / 9' 00 / 30 €
distribution: 16mm