Portrait de Madame Gonzales (mother of the artist) by Eva Gonzales 1870
I am writing to you from my daughter’s home in the Village of Le Bar Sur Loup, France, which clings to the side of the Gorges de Loup in the Alpes Maritimes between Nice and Grasse, the city of perfume.
She always treats me to a visit to a Gallery or Museum, and this time was no exception. So, yesterday we set off to the village of Mougins where Picasso had a house, and where his photographic collection is still exhibited!
However, the purpose of my treat this time was to visit a newly refurbished Gallery called FAMM (Femmes Artistes du Musée de Mougins)
This is one of the only Galleries in Europe, to be devoted entirely to International Female Artists.
The man behind this amazing project is Christian Levett, a British born Art Collector and Philanthropist, who has transformed his original museum, “Musée de Art Classique” into FAMM.
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- Self portrait of Marie Bracquemond with her French bulldog. 1892
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- The Harvest by Blanche Hoschede-Monet -Claude Monet’s daughter in law who painted at his side for many years. 1894
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- Fillette Dan’s le Jardin. Mary Cassatt 1882
It spans four floors of a beautiful old building at the entrance to the village, and each floor has a different theme, ranging from Impressionism, up to very recent modern work in contemporary and abstract styles
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- Char. (Portrait of the artists mother) By Anna Weyant Canada 2019
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- To Distraction Dorothy Tanning. American 1962
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- Limbo. By Claire Gavronsky south Africa 2024
There are over one hundred art works on display by eighty different artists, Including such names as Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt; Eva Gonzales, Frida Kahlo, Joan Mitchell, Alice Neil, Tracey Emin and many others.
Since Christian Levett sold his Classique Collection, he has purchased over two thousand works by women from all over the world and these will be exhibited at Mougins on a rotation, so there will always be something new and exciting to see.
Sculpture of Picasso at the entrance to the village of Mougins. Lower Alps in distance. By Gabriel Stark 2008
I hope you enjoy admiring just a few of the works being exhibited at the moment, and in our next Update, I would like to tell you about an exhibition running in partnership with this one, by a living French woman, called Elizabeth Colomba. She is based in New York and her work is absolutely amazing, rather reminiscent of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, in its detail and symbolism, except that her project is to reverse the roles of the black American slaves, with those of their masters!!! Really fascinating!
Helena Anderson