[[[pull_quote]]]

"Art is a necessity for me,” Guillaume Houzé notes in hisrapid-fire French. “Probably an addiction, I’ll admit. It is inseparablefrom who I am.” Houzé, a descendant of Théophile Bader,who founded the Galeries Lafayette department store morethan a century ago, has the charm and easy confidence, thoughnone of the frivolity, of a young man born to privilege. Sittingat a café on the Place de l’Alma, in Paris’s 8th arrondissement,he cuts a striking figure: tall and handsome, with intense eyesunder dark brows and prematurely graying hair—he’s only 27. He points to an apartmentbuilding with an enviable view of the Seine. “My great-grandparents lived right there,on the top floor. I knew them until I was 17. At their home, I discovered a Soutine thatwas completely abstract. It made a strong impression on me.” In addition to the Soutine, paintings by Bonnard, Manet, Pissarro and Renoir covered the walls.

Houzé is part of a long line of entrepreneurs and collectors. He studied business atthe University of Paris X Nanterre and last January started working at Galeries Lafayette(where his father is president), moving among the different departments, learning thenuts and bolts. He talks of going to the U.S. in a couple of years to complete an MBA.As for the acquisitive gene, Houzé’s great-great-grandparents gravitated toward theImpressionists and his great-grandparents toward rare books and 18th-century drawingsof Paris, while his grandparents specialized in the 20th-century School of Paris, fromSerge Poliakoff to Pierre Soulages. The collecting trait skipped his parents’ generation,but he displays it with a vengeance. When Houzé was just 14, he made his first art purchase—an oil by Erró, the Icelandic-born painter whose Pop-style pictures sample imagesfrom a multitude of sources. This particular Erró was an homage to Picasso and Léger. “Iwalked into the gallery and fell for it on the spot,” says Houzé, who wound up spendingall his savings on the work, about 10,000 francs (approximately $2,000).

The collector was first drawn to color, notably as used in Pop art and its French counterpartof the 1960s, Narrative Figuration. Gradually, though, his tastes changed, and aboutsix years ago he began buying homegrown artists of his own generation. Soon prominentParisian contemporary-art dealers—figures like Philippe Valentin, Olivier Antoine, ofGalerie Art:Concept, and Michel Reintook him under their wings, teaching him whatto look for and exposing him to emerging talent.

At the time, contemporary French artists interested France and the rest of the worldeven less than they do today, and it didn’t require much to become their champion. In2005, Houzé and his grandmother Ginette Moulin, the chairwoman of Galeries Lafayette’ssupervisory board and a majority shareholder, teamed up to launch Antidoteprimarilya collection but also an annual exhibition intended to support France’s current crop ofartists. The two have quickly amassed holdings of about 250 works in all mediums, fromwhich they exhibit close to a dozen mostly large-scale pieces each autumn in the Galerie desGaleries, an exhibition space within the Paris store. The show, in which nothing is for sale,is an exceptional commitment in a commercial venue where every square foot has a pricetag. But for Houzé, promoting culture is as important as reaping profits: “Antidote is ourway of being engaged. The idea was to respond to the defeatism of the French art scene.”This year’s Antidote exhibition, featuring the work of 11 artists, opens onOctober 9, overlapping with the Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain (FIAC), of whichGaleries Lafayette has been a major sponsor since 2006. It remains on view through December 6, after which a version will travel to theGaleries Lafayette in Berlin, in fall 2009.

Houzé’s efforts to give young French artistsa rare public platform have not gone unnoticed.Guy Boyer, the editorial director of the magazineConnaissance des Arts, which produced a supplementcovering Antidote last year, remarks: “It sendsa strong signal during FIAC when a company likeGaleries Lafayette promotes French artists in such apublic location in the heart of Paris.” Jennifer Flay, the Fair’s artistic director, calls the exhibition a “powerfulvector of change that stimulates the emergence of anew generation.”

Each year, Moulin and Houzé set an annualbudget for Antidote, which she finances and he spendsas he sees fit. “My grandmother supports my choices,even if she doesn’t understand them,” he says. “Sheregrets that she bought Yves Klein in the 1980s—20years too late, because she didn’t understand hiswork in the 1960s.” There’s little chance that Houzéwill make the same mistake, for he prides himselfon recognizing talent early. “Financially, it is alwaysmore interesting to arrive before than after. I do not have millions of dollars to spend on Richard Prince orwhatever—and anyway, that does not excite me.”

“He’s been a great stroke of luck for the Frenchartistic scene,” says Michel Rein. “He’s intelligent, andunlike France’s biggest collectors—Bernard Arnaultand François Pinaulthe has the desire to promoteour artists internationally.” According to Rein, it’s nottalent that’s lacking in France but private collectorslike Houzé eager to spur interest in the artists.

When asked whether he sees himself as aGallic Saatchi, Houzé says no. “Saatchi knew how tomanipulate the market by buying and selling, creatinga buzz around a whole generation of artists. WithAntidote, we have a very different commitment. Webuy these pieces and never sell them.” On the otherhand, he admires the encouragement the U.K. gaveto the Young British Artists while France ignored itsown talent. “Thanks to the Tate, the Frieze fair andSaatchi, when you go to London, your cabdriver cantell you the nominees of the Turner Prize as easily asthe names of the players on Manchester United.”

Philippe Valentin takes credit for giving Houzéthe idea to create Antidote when he met the youngcollector four years ago. The gallery owner explains that art buyers in France never talkabout what they own for fear of the taxman. He told Houzé to break that mold: “You’re apublic figure. You can spread the word about French art, and others will follow.” Valentinhelped him buy pieces for the first Antidote show, in 2005. Nowadays, the dealer notes,“he manages very well on his own.” As Houzé’s collections grow, his public profile rises:He recently joined the board of Christie’s France.

Among the emerging stars to whom Houzé has brought visibility both at home andoverseas are the multimedia artist Saâdane Afif, who had a solo exhibition this summerat the Witte de With, in Rotterdam; Marc Étienne, who sculpts realistic mushrooms andbits of tree trunks from wax; and Mathieu Mercier, whose reinterpretations of everydayobjects were the subject of a solo show last winter at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville deParis that was sponsored by the Galeries Lafayette Group. Other Houzé protégés includethe sculptor Xavier Veilhan and a young artist named Sylvain Rousseau who didn’t evenhave gallery representation when Houzé started buying his work.

Houzé’s approach has been to compile “exhaustive” holdings of each artist, comprising15, 20 or 30 of his or her finest works. In addition to galleries, he haunts the major fairsin Basel and Miami. He especially likes the satellite events, such as Zoo, held during Friezein London, and Listethe Young Art Fair, in Basel. He never buys at auction, nor does heemploy a consultant. Although he’s had no formal art education, Houzé prefers to trusthis eyes and his instincts. And when something appeals, he tends to buy it on the spot—thishappens once a week on average—and worry about the budget afterward.

What distinguishes Houzé’s personal collection from Antidote is mainly size;the 50 works he has bought for himself are smaller than thosehe buys for the foundation. He’s acquired works by foreignersfor both collections, among them Peter Coffin, Liam Gillick, Wade Guyton, AdamMcEwen and David Noonan. There are no Indians, Russians or Chinese. “You can’t beon top of everything,” he says. Ditto for more established living French artists, such asChristian Boltanski and Annette Messager. “They’re just not part of my personal story.”

Over the summer, Houzé moved to a new apartment, near the LuxembourgGardens. It was completely renovated by Laurent Buttazzoni, who is also the architectof the design gallery Kreos huge new space nearby. With high ceilings and a wall ofwindows, the sober linear interior complements yet never competes with the art, whichis mostly in tones of black, white and gray. At 1,600 square feet, Houzé’s new home ismore than twice the size of his previous place, but he has restrained himself from crammingit with treasures.

The first thing one sees upon entering is the word lyrics carved in mirrored woodletters by Saâdane Afif, whose work often involves music. Beyond, at the far endof the dining room, appears Mathieu Mercier’s Mask, 2006, a baseball catcher’s facemask transformed into an African tribal relic. On an adjacent wall hang several ofMercier’s round kaleidoscopelike paintings. Around the corner, Xavier Veilhan’ssculpted portrait of himself shrunk to under five feet tall leans against the wall as thoughadmiring the surroundings.

These works by French artists coexist with those of foreign origin: a large blackmonochrome by Guyton, a shelf piece by Haim Steinbach and, behind the bed, Gefoltert(“Tortured”), a figure crouched as though in prayer painted on a tarpaulin by Switzerland’sValentin Carron. Scattered here and there are various gifts from Houzé’s grandmother,such as a Francis Picabia drawing in the bedroom and an Yves Klein blue postage stampin the office. The collector’s seminal purchase, the Erró, has followed him here, too, hisattachment to it now more emotional than aesthetic.

The apartment is also a backdrop for Houzé’s impressive design collection, whichincludes, in the living room, a blue and gray ABCD canapé by Pierre Paulin, an oversizedBell lamp by the Bouroullec brothers and a Marc Newson Orgone chair. In the diningroom, a Bakelite table by Maarten van Severen is surrounded by Martin Szekelys Corkchairs, while against the wall, low marble shelves by Jasper Morrison share space with a1950s Gino Sarfatti floor lamp. Houzé says mixing art and design seems “natural,”although he views the two disciplines quite separately. “What interests me is to surroundmyself with talent. I choose furnishings based on a certain idea of excellence, created bythe best and most interesting designers.” His go-to source is Galerie Kreo, whose owner,Didier Krzentowski, has become a close friend.

Houzé says that he chose very quickly from his art collection what to install where,adding that he will probably change the arrangement every six months to a year. As hespeaks, he picks up Pierre Ardouvin’s untitled snowball-like spheres and adjusts theirposition on the coffee table about 20 times. Noting their fuzziness, one can’t help butwonder how his housekeeper deals with the more unusual works. “I had a portrait paintedon a mirror by the English artist Babak Ghazi,” Houzé recalls. “One day I came homeand saw that she had wiped it all off. The artwork was just gone.” He says he wasn’tangry, just surprised: “It’s proof that sometimes art has to be explained.”

He has been joined in the apartment by his fiancée, Noémie Grinberg. She didn’thelp with the decorating, and he admits it took him a while to learn how to integrate herinto his passion for art. “It’s strange that there’s a public dimension to Antidote, and at thesame time I had a hard time sharing it. And I was mad at myself, because I felt like I wasexperiencing it in a selfish way.” Eventually, he came around. They have the same taste,and after all, her cousin is Kreo’s Krzentowski. But, Houzé concedes, “I show her thingsafter I’ve bought them.” An example: the piece installed in a baby’s room, a music box byArdouvin that plays a lullaby version of the Communist anthem, “The Internationale.”

Practically everywhere he goes, Houzé carries an iPod Touch loaded with imagesof his collection, which he regularly pulls out when he’s alone. “It gives me great pleasureto look at it, whether or not the pieces are physically there. Of course, the idea is not toleave them in storage. Art moves around. I don’t need to live with it every day. Just knowingit’s there is enough.”

"The Perfect Antidote" originally appeared in the October 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's October 2008 Table of Contents.