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The Frick Collection
2010 Autumn Dinner |
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STANDING Benefit Chairman Juan A. Sabater, Santiago Blaquier, Charlie Blaquier, Ignacio Blaquier, Alejandro Blaquier, Mimi Blaquier, Benefit Chairman Edward Lee Cave and SEATED in the front row Benefit Chairman Marianna Sabater, Honoree Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier, and Frick Director Anne L. Poulet.
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The Frick Collection held its 2010 Autumn Dinner on Monday, October 18th at the elegant Frick mansion. The highly anticipated evening was a magical experience celebrating one of America’s finest museums.
This year’s black-tie dinner honored Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier, a distinguished philanthropist and prominent figure in the arts in Argentina and beyond. A collector of European and South American fine and decorative arts, she was recently appointed Cultural Ambassador of Buenos Aires. She is a member of the International Committee of the Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs, Musée du Louvre, Paris, and has been decorated by the French Republic with the grade of Officier de L’Ordre des Arts des Lettres. She is also a member of the International Council of New York’s Museum of Modern Art and a member of its Chairman’s Council.
Proceeds for this event help to support the full range of programs of The Frick Collection, including educational and curatorial initiatives, and the Frick Art Reference Library. This year, the Autumn Dinner raised nearly $950,000.
The evening began with cocktails in the Garden Court. The downstairs special exhibition galleries were open, allowing guests to enjoy the critically acclaimed fall exhibition The Spanish Manner: Drawings from Ribera to Goya.
Supporters also wandered through the remarkable permanent collection galleries in the Frick mansion, among them the newly refurbished Boucher Room, which quietly reopened in early October after a three-month closure. Its new lighting system allows for the decorative arts objects and sculpture to be properly illuminated for the first time; improvements to the lighting of the paintings now show the celebrated Boucher panels to their best advantage as well. The boiserie in this “jewelbox” of a room was restored at the same time, and the results of this major project delighted Autumn Dinner attendees.
The Boucher Room.
Nearby in the Frick family Dining Room, guests found four newly installed pieces of royal Hanoverian silver on loan from a private collection. These rare objects have never been shown publicly in the United States and are at home at the Frick, surrounded by eighteenth-century English portraits by Hopner, Gainsborough, and Romney. Given Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier’s own keen eye as a silver collector, it was lovely to have these examples on view.
Dinner was served in three magnificent rooms. Unprecedented except for at this annual Frick event, banquet tables ran the length of the mansion’s signature West Gallery, where guests enjoyed their meal with a glorious backdrop of paintings by Rembrandt, Turner, Velázquez, Vermeer, Veronese, and others. The BIG surprise of the evening was the comprehensive relighting of this historic and grand gallery (underwritten by Trustee Stephen A. Schwarzman). Completed quietly in the days prior to the event, this was the first upgrade to the lighting system in this room since the museum opened to public seventy-five years ago. Honoree Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier and her family dined in the West Gallery, considered the core of the original Frick mansion.
Guests enjoy dining in the just fully relit West Gallery.
Supporters in the Oval Room enjoyed a more intimate setting, and dined at round tables surrounded by four of James McNeill Whistler’s most beloved full-length portraits as well as a full-length painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Mother and Children.
The Oval Room.
Those seated in the recently relit and refurbished East Gallery took their meal among several Spanish, and Spanish-inspired works, such as Goya’s masterpiece The Forge and his portraits of Don Pedro, Duque de Osuna and Doña María Martínez de Puga. Also installed in the room were El Greco’s Vincenzo Anastagi and Manet’s Bullfight.
The dinner menu included cold smoked trout and salmon mousse with horseradish dill sauce and cucumbers, roasted breast of pheasant with apple sage stuffing, lingonberry sauce, sautéed haricots verts and morels, and a potato tart with truffles and a dessert of poached pears and pear sorbet with hot chocolate sauce and ginger snap cookies and coffee.
The wines were provided by the Argentinian winery Bodega Luigi Bosca and included
a Reserva Riesling, 2007 and a Chardonnay, 2008.
Jerry Sibal Designs created a seasonally inspired scheme of jewel-toned table-top arrangements that featured exotic purple Vanda and Mokara orchids, fragrant Juliet garden roses, French orange parrot tulips, dahlias, and hot princess fuschia and Rosita Vendela roses. Wrapped around three-arm tall candelabra were branches of bittersweet. Square glass vases cast their own glow, as they were be filled with dyed crystallized floral gels with mini luminous LED lights. Galen Lee, the Frick’s Horticulturist, coordinated for the Garden Court a mixed seasonal planting of lavender cushion mums and orange-toned Korean chrysanthemums.
The table design.
Remarks occurred after the main course and began in the East Gallery with Frick Chairman of the Board Margot Bogert. She initiated the program with notes of appreciation for all involved in creating the event and most importantly, to those supporters who attended it. She also explained that those in the West Gallery were enjoying the results of our new relighting project, just completed, quietly the Friday before. Margot Bogert then introduced Frick Director Anne L. Poulet, who stood at a podium at the opposite end of the mansion in the far end of the West Gallery.
Anne L. Poulet spoke about honorée Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier in terms of her ability to inspire people and her transformative role in the art world and beyond. She discussed Nelly’s achievements as an active member of leading art and cultural institutions in Argentina, Europe, and the United States, and reflected upon when they first met. At the time, Anne Poulet was working at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and Señora de Blaquier lent a spectacular piece of eighteenth-century silver by Meissonier to the museum. Poulet was struck not only by Nelly’s taste and knowledge but by her genuine warmth and enthusiasm. She spoke of their continuing relationship, which included Anne’s travels alone and with Frick supporters, to Buenos Aires, where Señora de Blaquier was a most gracious host. Poulet then saw her diverse and magnificent art collection, which includes silver, French Impressionist paintings, gold boxes, Argentinean silver and paintings, Renaissance bronzes, Limosges enamels, and Persian pottery–all of which reflect a fine eye.
Anne Poulet also spoke about Señora de Blaquier’s support of schools for arts appreciation, her patronage at the University of San Andrés, and the scholarships for which she is responsible. Furthermore, guests were enlightened as to Nelly’s contributions to the fields of science and medical research, including the Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier Research Laboratory of Blood Cancers.
This tribute to a true citizen of the world next included a few words by Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier herself, accompanied in part by her son Carlos (or Charlie). Señora de Blaquier shared with guests a sense of her heartfelt emotion and gratitude over the evening’s festivities. She spoke a bit about her family and pride over their achievements..Mimi, Charlie, Alejandro, Santiago, and Ignacio, and members of their families. She went on to explain that she lives her life as a mission, raised to believe in the Parable of the Talents: all the gifts we are granted, we must bring to fruition for the good of our fellow men. She spoke of being an only child and the mandate received very early to train herself to inherit her family’s enterprise and acknowledge the responsibilities that came with it. She spoke of the programs she has supported by providing scholarships to students, to the building of laboratories and libraries, to her commitments further afield to the United States.
Señora de Blaquier spoke of people and experiences that leave a mark on one’s pathways, giving as an example Jacques Helft and his Chilean wife Marianne. Being Jewish, they had to leave Paris during World War II. Jacques was a leading expert in eighteenth-century silver. Having settled in Buenos Aires, they eventually met Nelly, who became his best student, and as a result her life took a definite direction: collections becoming her vocation. She then thanked the guests of this dinner (many of whom are passionate collectors of art themselves) for sharing this evening with her.
Board Chairman Margot Bogert and Director Anne L. Poulet present Honoree Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier with an engraved commemorative Regency silver tray by Tiffany & Co.
She was then joined by Frick Board Chairman Margot Bogert and Director Anne L. Poulet, who together presented her with an engraved commemorative silver Regency tray generously provided by Tiffany & Co. Dessert and coffee followed, and in a relaxed manner, guests then wandered back through the remarkable galleries of The Frick Collection. As a parting gift, all were offered the beautifully illustrated catalogue for the museum’s new exhibition (featured earlier in the evening), The Spanish Manner: Drawings from Ribera to Goya. Guests slowly departed not only with this book to remember the evening by, but with the lovely thoughts and words of Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier.
Guests included: Joan Taub and Alan M. Ades, Julian Agnew, Irene R. Aitken, Cetie Nippert Ames and Anthony Ames, Henry H. Arnhold, Carole P. Bailey, Colin B. Bailey, Sonia Benvenuto de Blaquier, Rosamond Bernier, Alejandro Blaquier, Carlos H. Blaquier, Ignacio Blaquier, Mimi Blaquier, Santiago Blaquier, Agustina Blaquier de Loitegui, Daniele Bodini, Margot and Jeremiah Bogert, David and Teresa Bull, Stephen Bury, Catherine Cahill and William Bernard, Edward Lee Cave, Helen Clay Chase (great granddaughter of Henry Clay Frick) and Minturn Chace, David Patrick Columbia, Mary Sharp Cronson, Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier, L. F. Boker Doyle, Beth DuPont, June Dyson, Walter A. and Vera Eberstadt, Carolina Eiras de Blaquier, Elizabeth and Jean-Marie Eveillard, Barbara G. Fleischman, Joanne d. Foster, Ms. Elise D. Frick and Mr. John A. Garraty, Mrs. Henry Clay Frick II, Susan Galassi, Peter Goltra, Bernard Gray and Julia Gray, Timothy and Karin Greenfield-Sanders, Agnes Gund, Nicholas H. Hall, Duane Hampton, Michele B. and Michael Harkins, Mauro Herlitzka, Franklin W. and Linda B. Hobbs, Edward and Nathalie Kaplan, Christian K. Keesee, Konrad K. Keesee, Fernanda M. Kellogg and Kirk Henckels, Robert and Rose Kelly, Dorothy Lichtenstein, Martha Loring (great great granddaughter of Henry Clay Frick), Jose Maria Sans Magallón, Maria Mazzini de Blaquier, Joyce Menschel, Thierry Millerand, Gillian and Sylvester Miniter, Jill Newhouse, Bernard G. Palitz, Norman and Liliane Peck, Laura Pels, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Phipps Jr., Frick Director Anne L. Poulet and François Poulet, Andrew and Zibby Right, Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Royce, Juan and Marianna Sabater, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley DeForest Scott, Melvin R. Seiden and Janine E. Luke, Larry and Klara Silverstein, Elizabeth M. Stafford, Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas, Maria Taquini de Blaquier, Aso O. Tavitian and Isabella Meisinger, David M. Tobey, Fernando Villalonga (Consul General of Spain), Ezra Zilhka, and others.
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STANDING Bernardo Loitegui, Agustina Blaquier de Loitegui, Pedro Silvestri, Carolina Eiras de Blaquier, Santiago Blaquier, Charlie Blaquier, Alejandro Blaquier, Ignacio Blaquier, Mimi Blaquier, Juan Pereyra Iraola, and Sonia Blaquier and SEATED in the front row: Maria Taquini de Blaquier, Maria Mazzini de Blaquier, Honoree Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier, and Frick Director Anne L. Poulet.
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Board Chairman Margot Bogert, Robert L. Froelich, and Board member Emily T. Frick.
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Board member Martha Loring (great great granddaughter of Henry Clay Frick) and Former Board President Helen Clay Chace (and great granddaughter of Henry Clay Frick).
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Board member Jean-Marie Eveillard and Elizabeth Eveillard.
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Peter Reed, Board member Agnes Gund, John Hall, Emily Braun, and John Waddell.
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Board member Barbara G. Fleischman, Frick Associate Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Colin B. Bailey, and Martha Fleischman.
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Howard Phipps and Mary Phipps.
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Gala Chairman Marianna Sabater with Nathalie Kaplan and Edward Kaplan.
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In red Frick Deputy Director of External Affairs Lynne Rutkin, seated Rosamond Bernier, Thierry Millterand, and behind standing Board member Walter A. Eberstadt and Nancy Pedot.
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Donna Rosen and Benjamin Rosen.
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Cristiana Kristal and David Kristal.
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Alissa Shulkin, Jonathan Shulkin, Benefit Chairmen Marianna Sabater and Juan A. Sabater, and Antonio Gracias and Sabrina Gracias.
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Christopher Fletcher, Janina Longtine, and Duane Hampton.
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Sylvester Miniter and Gillian Miniter.
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William Bernard and Catherine Cahill in the long West Gallery.
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Deborah Royce and Charles M. Royce in the Fragonard Room.
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Eccetra (Cetie) Ames and Anthony Ames.
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Julie Tobey and David M. Tobey.
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Pat Braga, Mary Phipps, and David J. Braga.
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Board member Barbara Fleischman, Karin Greenfield-Sanders, and Donna Rosen.
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Bart Friedman and Wendy Stein in the Living Hall.
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Board member and Benefit Chairman Juan A. Sabater, Anh Wilson, Patrick Quilty, and Benefit Chairman Marianna Sabater.
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David T. Owsley and June Dyson.
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Benefit Chairman Edward Lee Cave, Elizabeth M. Stafford, and Count Nicholas Wenckheim.
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Roberta Sandeman, Board member Emily T. Frick, and Robert L. Froelich in the receiving line.
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Fernanda M. Kellogg and Kirk Henckels.
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Anthony Ames, Carole P. Bailey, and John French.
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Henry Arnhold and Elisabeth de Picciotto.
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Theo Prudon, Jocelyn Carpenter, Vasco Tatchev, Shashi Caan, Dan Regan, Ani Tatcheva, Board member Aso O. Tavitian, and Isabella Meisinger.
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Frick Board Chairman Margot Bogert and Senior Curator Susan Grace Galassi.
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Lucien Guthrie and Caroline Guthrie.
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Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas and Joanne d. Foster.
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| Photos:
Images 1,4-6,24,26,30,33-39: Christine A. Butler. Images 2,3,7-23,25,27-29,31-32: Mary Hilliard. Boucher Room image: Michael Bodycomb |
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