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Sunday
morning in Palm Beach.
8:00
AM. Photo: JH.
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Friday
morning JH and I flew down to an overcast and cloudy Palm Beach to
attend the art and antiques fair that
is officially called Palm Beach! America’s International
Fine Art & Antique Fair, which is on exhibition at the
Palm Beach County Convention Center on Okeechobee Boulevard in
West
Palm through February 13.
The Fair started in a tent nine years ago and now, with 101 international
dealers participating (exhibiting approximately $2.5 billion worth
of merchandise), it is regarded by many to now be on the caliber
of the world-class art fairs such as the Grosvenor in London, the
Biennale Antiquaire in Paris, and Maastricht in the Netherlands.
The opening night Vernissage (which we were flown down for by the
fair’s organizers) was hosted by the Fair’s honorary
chairs Paige Rense of Architectural Digest and John
Loring, the
design director of Tiffany & Company, and the three co-chairs
Audrey Gruss, Mario Buatta and Pauline
Pitt. Ms. Rense gave the
welcoming cocktail reception on Wednesday night at Café Boulud
at the Brazilian Court and then returned to New York where she
attended the Aquarian birthday party at the Pink Teacup (see NYSD
2/4/05) the following night. The normally ebullient Mr. Buatta
couldn’t
make it, being laid-up in New York after hurting his back in a
fall.
However, Ms. Rense and Mr. Buatta notwithstanding,
Friday night’s
reception was a huge hit, drawing a big crowd of the glittering
ones from Palm Beach across the bridge, London 'cross the water,
and New York up north.
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The
Maharajah of Patiala's Howdah (elephant
seat) of carved ivory, c. 1820. $500,000 at Mallett.
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There was a
special “Connoisseurs Reception” from six
to eight honoring Lord and Lady Rothermere who
came over from London for the event. Jonathan Harmsworth,
the 4th Viscount Rothermere, is the head of DMGT which controls
the company which staged this
(and many other fine art) exhibitions. DMGT stands for Daily Mail
General Trust. Rothermere, who is a very young looking thirty-seven,
is the head of the family multi-billion dollar media empire (he
has two sisters), which he inherited when he was not quite thirty-one,
on the death of his father, Vere Harmsworth.
The fair’s “mastermind” is Lorenzo Rudolf, who
is vice-president of DMGT’s International Fine Art Exhibitions.
Mr. Rudolf, who is Swiss, was the director of Art Basel (the single
most important contemporary art fair in the world) for 10 years.
This is his second year with the Fair and it was his concept to
bring a kind of “Art Basel” to this Palm Beach to it. |
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Lord
Rothermere shopping
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Meanwhile,
down to business: There were lots of familiar
faces from the New York social scene and lots of habitues
of the NYSD, including the new Mrs. Trump. The beautiful Melania,
looking more radiant than ever was there “shopping
for jewelry,” we were told, at Graff and Richters.
Lord and Lady Rothermere after their frequent photo sessions
with the likes of JH and the corps of photographers covering
the event, spent quite a bit of their time, (again, we were
told) shopping for antiquities at Ariadne.
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Guests
exiting the show
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In the crowd: Chris
and Grace Meigher, Ann and Jerome Fisher, Tony Ingrao and Randy
Kemper who were touring the exhibition with June
and Tim Rooney (Mr. Rooney owns the Pittsburgh Steelers).
Their daughter Bridget is marrying Bill
Koch in Aspen on Feb 19th, Richard and Marcia
Mishaan, Jerry Goldsmith, Edwina Sandys and Richard Kaplan, Heather
Cohane, Bruce Bierman, William Secord, Betty Sherrill, Jill Markiewicz,
John
Loring, Audrey and Martin Gruss, Pauline Pitt, Iris Cantor, Stephanie
Seymour and Peter Brant, Terry Allen Kramer and Nick Simunek, Alexa
Hampton, Pilar and Pablo Molyneux, Arnold Scaasi and Parker Ladd,
Dame Celia Lipton Farris, Laura Hunt, Kay Gillman and Herb Schmertz,
Muffy and Donald Miller, Sharon Sondes, Audrey Gruss, Asha Phutli,
Whitney and Dana Tower, Richard Feigen, Cynthia Boardman, Joe Allen
and Annette Tapert, Mr. and Mrs. Winston Churchill II, Countess
Christina von Merveldt, Frannie Scaife and Tom McArter, Lars Bolander
and Nadine Kalichnikoff, who have galleries there and
here in New York; Howard and Karen Clarke, Ray and Maria
Floyd, Ellen and Ian Graham, Alexa Hampton, Hillie Mahoney, Patty
Raynes, Andrea Stark, Ann Downey and her daughter Mona de Sayve,
Bill and Candy Hamm, Jamie Niven, who was with Pauline
Pitt, again reviving the rumors (not for the first or
second time) that those two are an item. Did I leave anybody out?
Hundreds; as the memory begins to fray.
At nine o’clock
guests were just beginning to exit for the valet parking.
Meanwhile, a lot of people were in black tie because there were
other events
going on in Palm Beach that night – including the Cancer Ball and the NARSAD
benefit which was being held in the new ballroom at Mar-a-Lago where the new
Mrs. and Mrs. The Donald got married a couple of weeks ago.
It was a cool night, down under the sheltering palms, although
rain-free. And after the vernissage, there was much more to pack
into the forty-eight hours
we spent in that now less than tiny enclave that’s begun to resemble King
Solomon’s Mines if it were a New York suburb. But more on that tomorrow. |
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Dana
and Whitney Tower
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Lucien
Capehart and Carrie Bradburn
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Mish
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Alberto
and Anabelle Mariaca
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Baroness
von Langerdorff
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Lorenzo
Rudolf (right)
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Carl
Lana and friend
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Jamie
Niven and Pauline Pitt
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Amy
Hoadley and Heather Cohane
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Dale
Coudert
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Cynthia
Frank, Sugar Rautbord, and Sharon Hoge
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Alexa
Hampton and friend
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Andrea
Stark and Anne Easton
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Donald
and Muffy Miller
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DPC
and Frances Hayward
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Faith
Morford
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Grace
Meigher and Mario Nievera
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Wilbur
Ross and Hilary Geary
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Pat
Patterson and Elizabeth Anger
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Ellen
and Ian Graham
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Jill
Markiewicz
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Frances
Scaife and Marjorie Reed Gordon
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Renee
and Richard Steinberg, Ann Fisher, and Carla Goldworm
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Viscountess
Harriet de Rosiere and Countess Christina von Merveldt
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Felicia
Taylor and mom
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Karen
Clarke and Candy Hamm
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Parker
Ladd
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Herb Schmertz
and Kay Gilman
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Arnold
Scaasi
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Maria
Floyd, Nick Simunek, Ray Floyd, and Terry Allen Kramer
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Melania
Trump and Audrey Gruss
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Nadine
Kalachnikoff, Lars Bolander, and Marquesa Barbara de
Paul
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Laura
Hunt
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Bill
Diamond and Regine Traulsen
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Cynthia
Boardman
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Lord
and Lady Rothermere
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Juan
Montoya
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Models
from David Morris
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Asha
Phutli and friend
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David
Stetford and family
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Chad
Leat, Jennifer Clarke, Jeff Locker, Tim Rooney, June
Rooney, Tony Ingrao, and Randy Kemper
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Randy
Kemper, June Rooney, and Tony Ingrao
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Alexandra
Kotur with her mom and Barbara Tfank (middle)
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Arnie
and Paola Rosenshein with friends
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Lady
and Lord
Rothermere
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