Bennett & Schmidt : Collecting works by women figurative realist painters
Building a niche as collectors
Date
Location
Sponsor
The Bennett Collection of Women Realists
Admission
Open to the public
RSVP required
FREE | Salmagundi Collectors Circle members with promo code
$15 | Zoom access to attend online
About the Event
For the first inaugural talk ever for the Salmagundi Collectors’ Circle, Steven Alan Bennett and Dr Elaine Melotti Schmidt will be providing an exciting foray into the wonderful world of collecting.
Steven Alan Bennett and Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt have built a premier collection of figurative realist works by women painters. Their collection includes works by historic women artists (Artemisia Gentileschi, Mary Cassatt, Suzanne Valadon, Elaine de Kooning and others) as well as works by some of the most exciting women figurative realist painters working today (among them, Patricia Watwood, Alyssa Monks, Margaret Bowland, Katie O’Hagan, and Harmonia Rosales).
In addition, Bennett and Schmidt co-founded The Bennett Prize for Women Figurative Realist Painters, currently the largest art prize offered exclusively to women artists. In this presentation, Bennett and Schmidt will discuss their collecting focus, the works in their collection, and how they built a collection of works in a fairly specific subpart of figurative realism. They will also explain their rationale in establishing The Bennett Prize for Women Figurative Realists.
The Bennett Collection
Steven Alan Bennett and Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt established The Bennett Collection of Women Realists after first meeting in 2009. The two collectors limit their collection to figurative realist paintings of women by women artists. In their collecting journey, Bennett and Schmidt have chosen to collect both historic and contemporary works in an effort to showcase the talent of women painters, who have frequently been overlooked by both big art and dedicated collectors. With a focus on women painters painting women subjects, the two collectors use their collection to celebrate women as both artists and as subjects.
The Bennett Prize
First awarded in 2019, The Bennett Prize is a biennial, juried competition that awards $50,000 to a woman artist to create her own solo exhibition of figurative realist paintings, which then travels the country. The prize also creates a traveling exhibition of the works of the ten finalists chosen in each competition.
In addition to the $50,000 award, Bennett and Schmidt also present one of the finalists with the $10,000 Schmidt Prize for Achievement in Figurative Realism. The goal of these prizes is to propel the careers of women painters who have not yet realized full professional recognition and empower women artists working in the figurative realist style. The prize also expands opportunities for the public to learn more about the creative vision of women figurative realists. In 2023, the most recent year for the award, almost 1,000 women painters competed for the prize and the finalists, as a group, have experienced significant additional recognition of their work and careers as a result.
Hungry?
Salmagundi Collectors’ Circle and Salmagundi members who would love to cap the night off with dinner may make a reservation via our Reservations page and include the message “Collectors Circle dinner”.
There is a prix-fixe dinner with a chicken / pasta entree and wine available. If interested, please add these add-ons when RSVP-ing via Eventbrite.
Not your fancy? There is also an a la carte menu to choose from. Pay for your meal in-person with a card or your membership account (no cash).
Salmagundi Collectors Circle
This will be the first inaugural talk for the Salmagundi Collectors Circle : an annual program for art lovers to unite for enrichment in the arts. There is access to a series of lectures per year, tours, dinners, meeting with artists, and the opportunity to share information with other enthusiasts.
