Adolphe Gumery was the son of the sculptor Charles Gumery. He had one son, Achille, a painter, who was killed during World War I. From 1882, Adolphe Gumery was a student at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he was taught by Gustave Boulanger and Jules Lefebvre. From 1881 to 1891, he exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français, and from 1891 to 1942 at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, becoming an associate member in 1904, a full member in 1906, then a member of the jury and secretary-general. In 1906, he was involved in the founding of the Salon d’Automne.