FIGURATIVE REALISM IS BACK, WOMEN CONTINUE TO RISE

We asked major art collectors Steven Alan Bennett and Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt to recap their latest buying journey to Miami this past winter.

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As collectors of figurative realist paintings, and as sponsors of a prize for women figurative painters, we must stay current with the contemporary art market. As one effort to do this, we annually attend Art Week during December in greater Miami. In the first week of December 2019, we saw as much as we could during this frenetic, whirlwind gathering of gallerists, dealers, collectors, artists and beautiful people from all around the world.

The United States is host to categorically incredible art fairs but, for sheer volume and breadth, Miami Art Week is the place for modern and contemporary art. Anchored by the flagship show, Art Basel Miami Beach, which takes over 500,000 square feet of the cavernous Miami Beach Convention Center, and surrounded by 17 “satellite” shows scattered across Miami and Miami Beach, Art Basel, as the entire complex of shows has come to be informally known, has collectively become the single most important art event in the United States. With offerings ranging from a couple of hundred dollars to millions of dollars and styles as diverse as Giorgio de Chirico and Nan Goldin, there truly is something for everyone.

The centerpiece show,