AXA Gallery

787 Seventh Ave
at 51st Street
in New York City
Monday through Friday,
11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday, noon to 5 p.m.

Admission is free.
Tel: (212) 554-4731

Clockwise from top left:

Alfred Courmes,
Peggy Guggenheim, 1926

Pablo Picasso, postcard to Jean Cocteau,
St.-Raphaël, 1919

George Grosz, Landscape, Pointe Rouge,
1927

Constantin Brancusi, Marcel Duchamp, and Mary Reynolds,
Villefrance, c. 1930

Raoul Dufy, Window on the Promenade des Anglais,
Nice, 1938

From top:
Eileen Gray, transat chair designed for "E. 1027,"
Roquebrune-Cap Martin, c. 1929
Man Ray and Kiki de Montparnasse at Villefranche,
1925
Pablo Picasso, Three Bathers,
Juan-les-Pins, 1920
Scene from the film The Red Shoes, 1947

From April 27, 2001 to July 14, 2001, the AXA Gallery (formerly the Equitable Gallery) will present an exhibition exploring creative practice on the French Riviera: Côte d'Azur. Art, Modernity, and the Myth of the French Riviera. In this exhibition, over 70 works by artists such as Henri Matisse, Raoul Dufy, Pierre Bonnard, Pablo Picasso, Gerald Murphy, and Yves Klein demonstrate how artists helped to create the myth and allure of the Côte d' Azur, and how, in turn, one place challenged the history of modern art, Côte d'Azur was guest curated by Dr. Kenneth Silver, a distinguished professor of art history at New York University. Dr. Silver is also the author of a companion volume published by MIT Press in cooperation with the AXA Gallery: Making Paradise: Art, Modernity and the Myth of the French Riviera. Together the exhibition and catalog offer a new analysis of the influence of the Riviera on art of the twentieth century.

Côte d'Azur: Art, Modernity, and the Myth of the French Riviera was organized by the AXA Gallery, which is sponsored by AXA Financial, Inc. and its subsidiary The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, which have also provided major funding and support for the exhibition.

The AXA Gallery presents works from all fields of the visual arts, including exhibitions originating outside of New York that would not otherwise have a presence in the city, as well as works from New York collections that would benefit from preservation and public presentation. The AXA Gallery is sponsored by AXA Financial, Inc. and its Subsidiary The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States.

Additional assistance has been provided by AXA Art Insurance Corporation.

Image credits:
Alfred Courmes, Peggy Guggenheim, 1926. Oil on canvas. Musée National de la Coopération Franco-Américaine, Château de Blérancourt. Gift of the Amis du Musée
Pablo Picasso, postcard to Jean Cocteau, St.-Raphaël, 1919. Ink and watercolor on card. Carlton Lake Art Collection, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin
George Grosz, Landscape, Pointe Rouge, 1927. Oil on canvas. Collection Peter and Lillian Grosz, Princeton, New Jersey
Constantin Brancusi, Marcel Duchamp, and Mary Reynolds, Villefrance, c. 1930. Courtesy The Art Institute of Chicago
Raoul Dufy, Window on the Promenade des Anglais, Nice, 1938. Oil on canvas. Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Samuel S. White III and Vera White Collection
Eileen Gray, transat chair designed for "E. 1027," Roquebrune-Cap Martin, c. 1929. Collections MNAM/CCI, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
Man Ray and Kiki de Montparnasse at Villefranche, 1925. Courtesy Klüver Martin Archive
Pablo Picasso, Three Bathers, Juan-les-Pins, 1920. Pastel with oil and pencil on laid paper. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Thannhauser Collection, Gift of Justin K. Thannhauser, 1978
Scene from the film The Red Shoes, 1947. Death of the heroine in "The Ballet of the Red Shoes." The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Film Still Archive