‘If people walk out of the museum and say to themselves: I had absolutely no idea there were so many incredible female artists out there, then it has achieved something important,’ Levett said.
Christian Levett at home in front of Grace Hartigan’s Two Women (1954).
Located in Mougins, near Cannes, FAMM (Female Artists of the Mougins Museum) opens to the public on 21 June. The museum is housed in the former MACM (Mougins of Classical Art), which Christian Levett opened in 2011.
The museum’s four floors will house over 500 works by women artists from the Levett Collection showcased through regular rotations at the museum.
‘I would like the museum to tell a story,’ he said. ‘The previous museum told the story of how ancient artists from the ancient worlds influenced artists in the last 400 years. This story is about female art from Impressionism through to contemporary.’
Organised chronologically, the initially hang will feature 100 paintings, sculptures, and photographs by more than 80 female artists from around the world.
Alice Neel, Jackie Curtis as a Boy (1972). Oil on canvas. 111.8 x 76.2 cm. © The Estate of Alice Neel.
Featured artists include Louise Nevelson, Alice Neel, Lee Krasner, Leonora Carrington, Howardena Pindell, and the recently damed Tracey Emin.
‘If people walk out of the museum and say to themselves: I had absolutely no idea there were so many incredible female artists out there, then the museum has achieved something important,’ he said.
Levett, a U.K.-born collector now based in Florence, bought his first artwork in 1995. Today the wider Levett Collection features around 2,000 works, 500 of which are by women artists.
Tracey Emin, Hurricane (2007). Oil on canvas. 18 x 182.8cm. © Tracey Emin. All rights reserved / ADAGP, Paris, 2024.
‘The first woman artist I ever bought was a Tracey Emin tapestry from Lehmann Maupin at Frieze in 2012,’ recounts Levett. ‘Prior to contemporary, I’d be collecting Old Masters, antiquities, as well as Impressionist and Post-Impressionist drawings—not particularly female-orientated areas.’
Levett has since demonstrated a strong desire to increase the visibility of female artists, organising private tours of his Florence palazzo entirely decorated with works by women and, in 2022, publishing the book Abstract Expressionists: The Women.
The Christian Levett Collection is currently supporting the all-female exhibition at Tate Britain Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520-1920 (16 May–13 October 2024). —[O]
