An exhibition by Hermès honours wildlife artist Robert Dallet as well as helps protect big cats
Dallet’s work, many of which have found their way to Hermès scarves
Chance encounters can open doors to opportunities. The meeting of Jean-Louis Dumas, CEO of Hermès from 1978 to 2006, and artist Robert Dallet was one such happy coincidence, recalls Pierre-Alexis Dumas, son of Jean-Louis and artistic director, Hermès. “He went to an art show and they clicked.” It was 1984 and the start of a collaboration that was to continue for a quarter of a century as the naturalist’s drawings found their way to many of Hermès’s scarves, including Jungle Love and Équateur.
A few years ago, there was another encounter. “I met, one day, the founder of Panthera,” says the 50-year-old Dumas, referring to billionaire Thomas Kaplan and his conservation charity, as he sits back in the Hermès store at Horniman Circle in south Mumbai, which he is visiting for the first time. “He was passionate about big cats and I invited him to see Dallet’s work.” Hermès had about 80 of the artist’s works in a private collection. Dumas recalls Kaplan was surprised that he had never heard of the artist before. The iconic brand and the charity tied up to form the Robert Dallet Initiative for Wild Cat Conservation which includes a travelling show of Dallet’s works, ‘Fierce and Fragile: Big Cats in the Art of Robert Dallet’. The exhibition has been to several countries over the past one year and is currently in Mumbai.
“His reaction made me think we have to share the work of Dallet,” says Dumas, who has just given us a walk-through of the exhibition that includes art work, videos outlining Dallet’s and Panthera’s work as well as colouring tables to engage children and create awareness. Dallet’s images, Dumas says waxing almost poetic, are not just a reproduction. “They are very accurate but also there is something more. It is in the eyes of the animal, a sense of empathy of the artist for his subject… you feel there is a presence of consciousness… (as if they are saying) ‘are you aware of them’?”
(This story appears in the 20 January, 2017 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)