13.34 - A First for French women: artists and feminists - Angers & Cannes
With thousands of museums in France, none are dedicated to women. However two are planned - one in Angers, to celebrate the history of Feminism & another in Cannes dedicated to female French artists.
1.First time for French women: artists and feminists - Angers & Cannes 2. How to personalise your le Bulletin newsletters - No more #bookchat? + more 3. NEW published articles: MyFrenchLife™ Magazine 4. Merci mille fois
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The first time for French women: artists and feminists - new museums in Angers & Cannes
I’m always impressed and often astounded by the number and quality of the galleries and museums in France. I have never noticed the lack of musuems about women! Have you? And when I heard the news of these two new museums I felt I wanted to share it with you.
1. The Museum of Feminism - Angers
While France thousands of museums, none is devoted to the history of feminist struggles and conquests, deplores Magali Lafourcade in a column in the "World". According to the magistrate, designing such a place would make it possible in particular to recall that “the implementation of a right contributes to that of others”.
The smokers , the galosh and the hearse, all have one thing in common. All of them have a museum dedicated to them in France. It was therefore time that feminism could have its own.
Until now, despite the 3,000 museums identified , none was devoted to this theme.The Museum of Feminism is scheduled to open its doors on the Belle-Beille campus, at the university library in Angers, in the Maine-et-Loire prefecture in Western France in 2027, according to Le Monde op-ed by magistrate Magali Lafourcade in May 2022.
For two decades they’ve been building France's largest collection of feminism documents. Personal archives have been donated by both, the former minister of women's rights under François Mitterrand, Yvette Roudy, and the National Federation of Family Planning.
Since 2004, its website has staged virtual exhibitions on the subject via Musea.
We've been carried along by the third wave of feminism, and invigorated and amplified by #metoo," said Prof. Bard.
Inequality between women and men has increased
In 2021, the World Economic Forum highlighted the unprecedented widening of inequalities between women and men, under the effect of the pandemic and the multiple crises it has generated. This regression is now counted in generations.
In 2002, the Museum of Women's History, was devised but never established. Twenty years later, the movement was revived by Magali Lafourcade's open letter, calling for a museum defined as follows:
"By paying homage to great women of letters and artists, by re-evaluating their contribution and the greatness of their work, by valuing the expression of women from ethnic and sexual minorities, such a place would be able to show the scale and the mechanisms of their marginalization by official bodies." The lawyer and human rights specialist pointed out that only 9% of Goncourt Prize recipients have been women, while only 18% of César awards went to women in categories that put them in competition with men.
« N’oubliez jamais qu’il suffira d’une crise politique, économique ou religieuse pour que les droits des femmes soient remis en question. Ces droits ne sont jamais acquis. Vous devrez rester vigilantes votre vie durant. » Cet état de vigilance se traduit par une intense diffusion de la pensée féministe, portée par des essais à succès comme par un foisonnement de podcasts, de « La Poudre » à « Mansplaining ».
Which translates as: “Never forget that all it takes is a political, economic or religious crisis for women's rights to be called into question. These rights are never acquired. You will have to remain vigilant throughout your life. This state of vigilance results in an intense dissemination of feminist thought, carried by successful essays as well as by a proliferation of podcasts, from “La Poudre” to “Mansplaining” .
I’m looking forward to following this development.
2. France to get first museum in Europe dedicated to women artists
The first museum dedicated entirely to women's art in Europe will open in southern France in 2024.
There are other museums in Europe that are dedicated to women's art or dedicated to women, such as the Bonn Women's Museum in Germany which also has a culture and research focus, this new museum will be the first museum solely focused on women artists and their art.
The first museum in the world ‘dedicated solely to women's art’ is the National Museum of Women in the Arts, in Washington DC, which opened in 1987. It contains 6,000 works by over 1,000 female artists, from the 16th century until today.
Do you know the name Christian Levett?
Such an interesting person I thought that you may be interested to read this article about Christian Levett and his art collections - an intriguing article…
As well as this, he has funded renovation works at The Charterhouse Museum London, Charterhouse School Surrey, The National Gallery, and the chapel Notre Dame de Vie in Mougins, and has sponsored conferences at King’s College London, Senate House UCL and at The Mougins Museum. He is a member of the Arms and Armour Committee at The Metropolitan Museum of New York and member of The Board of Visitors at The Ashmolean Museum Oxford and a past board member of The Hadrian’s Wall Trust. Levett is also an Honorary Fellow of The Ashmolean Museum, an honorary fellow of Wolfson College Oxford, and a member of the Oxford University Chancellors Court of Benefactors.
Landmark announcement for Cultural France
France will become home to the first museum solely dedicated to women's art in Europe. British former commodities trader, Christian Levett announced that he intends to convert his antiquities museum into one specialising in art by female artists.
The Mougins Museum of Classical Art, owned and founded by Levett, is located in the south of France near Cannes and welcomes around 250,000 visitors per year.
According to a statement on the museum's website, it will close as a classical art museum on August 31st, and reopen in June 2024 as 'FAMM: Female Artists of the Mougins Museum’ (Femmes Artistes du Musée de Mougins), which will focus primarily on contemporary and modern art.
FAMM: Female Artists of the Mougins Museum
To have had the opportunity to create this museum and to share my collections with the public has been a true honor for me as a collector,” reads the museum’s website. “I would like to thank the Friends of MACM, the residents of Mougin, the museum team and all our visitors, who have made MACM a great success. I have been collecting works of various kinds for a quarter of a century, and as my tastes have evolved, I think it is time for the museum to evolve as well. I look forward to the opening of our new FAMM museum, which I am sure will quickly become a must-see destination for art lovers, connoisseurs and collectors in the South of France and beyond.”
Levett announced that the new museum will house only works from the Levett Collection made by women artists. It will feature works by Joan Mitchell, Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, Grace Hartigan, Elaine de Kooning, Louise Bourgeois, Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas, Howardina Pindell, Joan Semmel, Nancy Graves, Cecily Brown, Carrie Mae Weems, Barbara Hepworth, Marlene Dumas, Alma Thomas, Leonor Fini, Franciszka Themerson, Sahara Longe, Elizabeth Columba, and many others. And that exhibitions will also be held.
Wow, I look forward to following this initiative! You too can follow @Christian-Levett on Instagram.
I’d like to hear from you about this museum. Do you live in the area, or have any other information to add - all welcome…
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