In 1956 Asia, to most Americans, had small allure and was easily perceived as a variety of infamy. Asians were referred to as Orientals in American parlance or in racial terms rife with bigotry. Red China. Mao Tse Tung. Fears of Communism. The Japanese were still re-building after their military defeat by the U.S. India was regarded as a subcontinent of overpopulation doomed of eternal poverty. This was the common perception. A half century later, it is a far different world and Asia has a far different, far more powerful allure, with a robust ability to prosper and astonish.
Had Mr. Rockefeller foreseen all this? Was he founding his Asia Society to prepare us? I don’t know that answer to that question.But last night at the Waldorf The Asia Society honored Lakshmi Mittal, the Chairman and CEO of the Mittal Steel Company of India and Charles O. Prince II, Chairman and CEO of Citigroup, Inc, with a special cultural achievement award to Tan Dun, Composer and Conductor, and a special musical performance by Wu Man. Bankers and businessmen could well use the shamans’ side, now maybe more than ever.
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John D. Rockefeller III, circa 1950.
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Gala chairman were Lloyd Blankfein, Chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs, Sant S. Chatwal, President and CEO, Hampshire Hotels & Resorts LLC; Martin J. Sullivan, Chairman and CEO, AIG, Inc., Stephen H. Long, President, Citigroup International. Co-chairman were Gina and David Chu, Lisina and Frank Hoch, Harold McGraw III, The McGraw-Hill Companies and Wilbur L. Ross Jr., WL Ross & Company LLC.
And I? Waylaid happily at the Antiques and Fine Art, a fair at the Armory on Park Avenue and 67th Street staged by its creators Diane and Meg Wendy. Last night was the gala preview evening benefiting The Boys Club of New York. Art Fairs and Auctions are where the action is these days in the world of international antiques, decorative arts and jewelry. These preview night galas have a certain form which includes a glamorous cocktail reception intriguingly enhanced by the dealers’ stalls full of treasures of all sorts.
67 dealers from five countries – the US, Canada, England, France and Turkey – dealers in fine furniture and accessories, antiquities, antique estate and contemporary jewelry, rare books, silver, rugs, clocks and barometers, objets.
The chairs of the Boy’s Club Benefit make it their business to sell tickets and make it a very enjoyable evening for the ticket buyers (donors). There is always a buffet and cocktail bars, silver trays floating by with champagne and white wine and hors d’oeuvres. But this year the girls from the Boys Club invited eleven restaurants and food distributors to set up tables with their own special dishes. Participants were Aureole, Central Park Boathouse, Coco Pazzo, Fred’s at Barneys, Dairyland, The Chef’s Warehouse, Fiamma, NNB Enterprise, One If By Land, Two If By Sea, Park Avenue Grill, Trattoria Dell-Arte. Besides that, Mark Hellerman and the Students of the Art Institute of New York City, Melisssa Capasso, Hannah Maldonado, Henry Mathies, Marianna Sottong, Krystal Reddiconto bake a village of gingerbread houses which were sold at silent auction.
There’s a drill for us covering these shows. JH and the Digital gets a number of portraits of the stalls as well some of the evening’s visitors. This time, however, both he and especially I fell victim to the brilliant chefs and their fantastic foods. Park Avenue Grill were passing out small lobster salad rolls. Three. Had to tear myself away. The Chef’s Warehouse had some cheese, an Amish cow’s milk cheddar, like the cheddar you got at grandmother’s house. The Central Park Boathouse was serving substantial scrumptious crabcakes with a small cucumber salads. Two. And more. I got carried away. Maybe it’s the flavor of the times (get it while you can), but I finally had to leave the Armory to stop myself. But not before getting a ginger snap ice cream cone. Perhaps it was the variety of establishments competing to tease our palettes.
Last night’s “Special Angels” included Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Ayres, Jeremy and Fredericke Biggs, Mario Buatta, Mary and Marvin Davidson, Robert Couturier, Graziano de Boni, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hickox, George and Mariana Kaufman, Donald and Muffie Miller, Charlotte Moss, Jayne Keith, Mrs. Richard Perkin, Barrie Vanderpoel, Charles Durkin Jr, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Gardiner, Mai Harrison, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Langone, Todd Romano, Dean Poll, Alexia Hamm Ryan, Simone and Chris Mailman, Virginia Mailman and many more like-minded benefactors. |
