A collection of figurative realist paintings of women by women

Steven Alan Bennett and Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt established The Bennett Collection of Women Realists^® in 2009. The two collectors limit their collection to figurative realist paintings of women by women artists. The Collection includes work by some of the most exciting women painters currently working: Julie Bell, Margaret Bowland, Aleah Chapin, Aneka Ingold, Andrea Kowch, Alyssa Monks, Katie O’Hagan and dozens of others on the cutting edge of figurative realism. In addition, the Collection includes historic women painters from across the generations, including Gertrude Abercrombie, Artemisia Gentileschi, Elaine de Kooning, Elisabetta Sirani, and many others.

Recent Acquisitions

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Susan Contreras

Los Trabajadores

Oil on Canvas, 51.5” x 61.5”

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Jeanne Mammen

Meditation, ca 1930

Watercolor on Paper, 16” x 12”

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Agnes Martin

Portrait of Daphne Vaughn, ca 1947- 1949

Encaustic on Canvas, 20" x 16"

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Ann Graves Tanksley

The Smothering Mother, 1971

Oil on Canvas, 29" x 36.5"

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Lesley Thiel

She Will Rise, 2020

Oil on Panel, 20” x 20"

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Lesley Thiel

The Sinking of the Gaia, 2020

Oil on Panel, 20” x 24"

The largest prize offered solely to women figurative realist painters.

The Bennett Prize^® , created in 2018, biannually awards $50,000 to a woman artist to create her own solo exhibition of figurative realist paintings, which travels the country. The Prize propels the careers of women painters who have not yet realized full professional recognition, empowering new artists and those who have painted for many years. The Prize expands opportunities for the public, who may not be familiar with figurative realist painting, to learn more about the creative vision of talented women painters in this increasingly popular genre.