The Bennett Prize for Women Figurative Realists ("The Bennett Prize") is a $50,000 biennial art prize established in 2016 by American art collectors Steven Alan Bennett and Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt."Meet Elaine Schmidt of The Bennett Prize in Downtown Chicago,"
14 August 2018. ''VoyageChicago.com,'' Voyage Media, retrieved 10 December 2019. Bennett and Schmidt are married and have an extensive collection of works by women figurative realist painters. Their collection contains several hundred works and is composed exclusively of works depicting women by women painters. In establishing The Bennett Prize, Bennett and Schmidt expressed a desire to support the type of work they collect. Since establishing the prize, Bennett and Schmidt have announced a $12 Million gift to the Muskegon Museum of Art, the host museum for the Bennett Prize competition, which gift includes art from their Collection as well as cash.

Endowment and description

The Bennett Prize for Women Figurative Realists is an art prize endowed by San Antonio-based art collectors and philanthropists Steven Alan Bennett and his wife Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt in 2016. Established with a $3 million fund established at The Pittsburgh Foundation, it is the largest art award ever offered solely to women painters. With the stated goal of seeking to propel the careers of women figurative realist painters, the winner of The Bennett Prize receives $25,000 annually for each of two years to allow her to devote the time necessary to mount a solo exhibition of figurative realist paintings, which are exhibited at the Muskegon Museum of Art in Muskegon, Michigan and then travel the country."A $50,000 Biennial Prize Recognizing Women Figurative Realist Painters"
''Fine Art Connoisseur''. Retrieved 2018-10-30. In addition to the sum paid to the winner, The Bennett Prize also offers cash awards of $1000 to each of up to eight (8) finalists selected from among the entrants. Commencing with the third iteration of the prize, a cash award of $10,000 will be presented to a first runner-up selected by the jury. This award is to be called ''The Elaine Melotti Schmidt Prize for Promise in Figurative Realism''. The prize is awarded once every two years to a woman painter whose principal focus is figurative painting done in a realistic style. Among the rules are requirements that contestants reside in the United States at least part of the year and that submitted work be present in the United States and not have to cross an international border in order to be displayed. Despite the Bennetts’ limitation of their personal collection to paintings ''of women'' by women artists, the Bennett Prize is not similarly restricted. Depictions of all genders are permissible, although the submitting artist must identify as a woman, regardless of their assigned gender at birth. This includes trans and cis women and nonbinary people.

The Collection

The Bennetts’ personal collection has come together over many years. The Bennett Collection comprises several historic works including pieces by

Mary Cassatt Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar De ...

Artemisia Gentileschi Artemisia Lomi or Artemisia Gentileschi (, ; 8 July 1593) was an Italian Baroque painter. Gentileschi is considered among the most accomplished seventeenth-century artists, initially working in the style of Caravaggio. She was producing profess ...

Elaine de Kooning Elaine Marie Catherine de Kooning (, née Fried; March 12, 1918 – February 1, 1989) was an Abstract Expressionist and Figurative Expressionist painter in the post-World War II era. She wrote extensively on the art of the period and was an edito ...

Sarah Miriam Peale Sarah Miriam Peale (May 19, 1800 – February 4, 1885) was an American portrait painter, considered the first American woman to succeed as a professional artist. One of a family of artists of whom her uncle Charles Willson Peale was the most illu ...

Agnes Martin Agnes Bernice Martin (March 22, 1912 – December 16, 2004), was an American abstract painter. Her work has been defined as an "essay in discretion on inward-ness and silence". Although she is often considered or referred to as a minimalist, Mart ...

, and

Suzanne Valadon Suzanne Valadon (23 September 18657 April 1938) was a French painter who was born Marie-Clémentine Valadon at Bessines-sur-Gartempe, Haute-Vienne, France. In 1894, Valadon became the first woman painter admitted to the Société Nationale des B ...

. Among the living artists represented in the collection are major works by

Julie Bell Julie Bell (born October 21, 1958) is an American fine artist, illustrator, photographer, bodybuilder and wildlife painter. Bell is also a fantasy artist and a representative of the heroic fantasy and fantastic realism genres. Bell has won Ches ...

, Margaret Bowland, Andrea Kowch, Alyssa Monks, Zoey Frank,

Xenia Hausner Xenia Hausner (born 1951 in Vienna) is an Austrian painter and stage designer. Life Hausner was born into a family of artists. Her father was the Austrian painter Rudolf Hausner. From 1972 to 1976, she studied stage design at the Academy of ...

, SuSu, Katie O’Hagan, Harmonia Rosales, and Kathrin Longhurst, among numerous others.

Mission

The aim of the prize is to fund an artist for two years year to enable them to focus solely on creating art. In a comment to ''American Art Collector'' Schmidt said: "In our discussions with women artists, we could sense the genuine struggle presented by making a living, raising a family and trying to paint, all at the same time. Our worry was that all this juggling when combined with working in obscurity, might invite some women to quit too soon." In addition to fighting gender discrimination, Bennett and Schmidt also aim to promote figurative realism, a genre they believe has been disadvantaged by the attitudes of arts professionals and institutional art organizations. Thus, the stated mission of The Bennett Prize is to counteract gender discrimination against women fine art painters and encourage and also enable their pursuit of figurative realism.

History

Bennett and Schmidt co-created The Bennett Prize for Women Figurative Realists with the Center for Philanthropy at The Pittsburgh Foundation, which was selected for its experience in working with donors to establish specifically tailored philanthropic initiatives. In addition, Bennett and Schmidt selected The Pittsburgh Foundation because of its experience with programs that support local artists and artists of color through its "Investing in Professional Arts and Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh" grant-making programs which The Pittsburgh Foundation oversees in collaboration with The Heinz Endowments. The Pittsburgh Foundation, working in consultation with Bennett and Schmidt, sponsors The Bennett Prize, but the selection of finalists and the winner is delegated to a jury of four individuals, at least two of whom must be women and, preferably working artists who, but for their experience and success, would meet the eligibility requirements for the prize. The initial call for entries for The Bennett Prize opened in April and closed in September 2018. The jury deliberated and on November 15, 2018, announced the first group of finalists. On May 2, 2019, the inaugural winner was announced at The Muskegon Museum of Art in Muskegon. The second call for entries opened in April 2020 and closed in September 2020. The finalists for the second Bennett Prize were announced on November 30, 2020. The second winner was announced on May 27, 2021. The third call for entries opened on April 18, 2022 and closed on October 7, 2022. The round three prize winner and runner-up will be announced at the opening exhibition in Muskegon on May 18, 2023.

2019 Prize Winners

Aneka Ingold from Tampa, Florida was the first winner of the prize. Her works explore women's experiences across time, culture and history. Ingold will received $25,000 annually for two years, a total of $50,000, which allowed her to devote the time necessary to create new work for her solo exhibition, which opened at the Muskegon Museum of Art in 2021 and then traveled the country.

2019 Finalists

The women painters named as finalists for the 2019 Bennett Prize were: *Dorielle Caimi, Santa Fe, New Mexico *Jennifer Campbell, Washington D.C. *Kira Nam Greene, Brooklyn, New York *Mary Henderson, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania *Aneka Ingold, Tampa, Florida * Stefanie Jackson, Athens, Georgia *Daniela Kovacic, Evanston, Illinois *Rebecca Leveille, Amherst, Massachusetts *Jenny Morgan, Brooklyn, New York *Carrie Pearce, Peoria, Illinois

2019 Honorable Mentions

In addition to the finalists, the jury, impressed with the quality of the work submitted for the first Prize, elected to call out several contestants with honorable mentions. The artists receiving honorable mentions were: *Bryony Bensly, Lunenburg, Massachusetts *Shiqing Deng, Brooklyn, New York *Michelle Doll, Hoboken, New Jersey *Jessica Gordon, Davidson, North Carolina *Sasha Gordon, Somers, New York *Sylvia Maier, Brooklyn, New York *Nora Martin-Hall, Los Angeles, California *Felicita Norris, San Jose, California *Rebecca Orcutt, Brooklyn, New York *Natasha Young, Kealia, Hawaii

2021 Prize Winners

Ayana Ross from McDonough, Georgia was the second winner of the prize on May 27, 2021. Her works feature family themes and, in her words, “explore intersecting issues of race, gender, identity and economics” as seen in daily life. Ross’ solo exhibition will open at the Muskegon Museum of Art on May 18, 2023, at which time the exhibition of the third prize finalists and winner will also be announced in Muskegon.

2021 Finalists

The women painters named as finalists for the 2021 Bennett Prize were: *Sophia_Yemisi Adeyano-Ross, Providence, Rhode Island *Tanmaya Bingham, Portland, Oregon *Chloe Chiasson, Brooklyn, New York *June Glasson, Millbrook, New York *Holly Keogh, Charlotte, North Carolina *Lavely Miller, Baltimore, Maryland *Rebecca Orcutt, North Bend, Washington *Ayana Ross, McDonough, Georgia *Su Su, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania *Amy Werntz, Dallas, Texas

Exhibitions

The first Finalists’ Exhibition, called "Rising Voices", ran through September 8, 2019 at the Muskegon Museum. It then traveled to different venues in 2020 and 2021 and closed at the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s 937 Gallery on August 8, 2021. The exhibition for the second iteration of the prize, “Rising Voices 2”, was exhibited at the Customs House Museum in Clarksville, Tennessee, the Arnot Museum in Elmira, New York, the Bo Bartlett Center in Columbus, Georgia, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."Studio Incamminati exhibition showcases Bennett Prize finalists"
''South Philly Review''. Retrieved 2022-09-15.

References

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External links

TheBennettPrize.Org
Official site Visual arts awards American visual arts awards Awards established in 2018 Awards honoring women