Conversation with Collector Christian Levett

Art collector and connoisseur Christian Levett will join Muscarelle Museum of Art Director David Brashear for a conversation about the origins of the art collection featured in Abstract Expressionists: The Women, as well as his collecting journey and strategy.

Over the past decade, Levett has collected more than 120 paintings and sculptures by American women Abstract Expressionists, mostly active from the early 1940s up to the 1970s. After reading Mary Gabriel’s 2018 book Ninth Street Women, Levett focused his collecting efforts specifically on this set of women painters.

In the exhibition catalogue, Levett shared that “it immediately became clear that these women were as interesting and vibrant in character as they were in their amazing art, and that they managed to elbow their way through extreme social and financial headwinds to become equally some of the greatest artists in the world, despite the fact that many of their male counterparts ultimately became infinitely more famous — at least, until now.”

Abstract Expressionists: The Women features nearly 50 works by 32 women artists and is on view at the Muscarelle January 23 – April 26 as its only East Coast showing. The exhibition was organized by the American Federation of Arts from the Christian Levett Collection and the Female Artists of the Mougins Museum (FAMM) in Mougins, France.

This talk will take place in the Studio Theatre at Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall. Free and open to all, but registration is required.