WILLIAM BENNETT GALLERY COLLECTOR’S CIRCLE PRESENTS THE INAUGURAL COLLECTOR’S CIRCLE FALL ARTS PROGRAM WITH SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER DR. VÉRONIQUE CHAGNON-BURKE, CHRISTIE’S NEW YORK

Thursday, January 24, 2008, 7PM-9PM
65 Greene Street, NYC

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In 1904, during his Blue Period in painting, Picasso began his long prolific career of printmaking. Within the last decade some 10,000 Picasso prints have sold. Those prints were based on the 2,200 engravings Picasso completed during his lifetime. His prints are highly personal with the subject matter and themes within them directly relating to both his life experiences and examining relationships between art and life. His early works were thought of as sentimental and shifted to a somber tone in 1905 relating to works like Les Saltimbanques. Picasso’s Rose Period corresponds with simple lines of drypoint used in his etchings. During one of his major printmaking periods, the Cubist period, he modified his printmaking style to mimic his papier collé works. In his most significant suite, commissioned by the legenday art dealer Ambroise Vollard, the Suite Vollard, Picasso created 100 plates expanding on the theme of art and life.

“In an art world that continues to be dominated by Picasso works on paper, the most important of Picasso’s portfolios are becoming increasingly difficult to find intact” says gallery owner Bryan Ledford. “Through an international network of resources, we have been able to acquire some of these most sought after works. The Collector’s Circle offers an opportunity to explore these rare works with some of the Art World’s most noted experts and historians, focusing not only on their value in the overall art market, but in providing unprecedented access to industry professionals whose goal is cultural enrichment through this informative series of dialogs.”