Palm Beach Social Diary: #New Norton: 45th Gala + 1st Pre-Gala ArtBeat
February 6, 2020
Artist Mickalene Thomas and NYC art advisor Nilani Trent were among the guests Thursday night at the Norton Museum of Art's 2020 pre-Gala party featuring DJ Mad Marj, aka Marjorie Gubelmann.
Despite thunderstorms sweeping across South Florida, threatening to cloud The Norton Art Museum’s 2020 Galaon Saturday night, more than 750 patrons, collectors, and culturati converged for cocktails, dinner, and dancing to celebrate the venerable institution’s 45th Gala benefit. Two nights earlier, I stopped in for ArtBeat2020, a pre-Gala function where more than 300 supporters gathered for drinks before retiring to the Ruth and Carl Shapiro Great Hall for a party mix with DJ Mad Marj, aka Marjorie Gubelmann, within the venue’s new Lord Norman Foster, Foster + Partners, designed Kenneth C. Griffin Building.
The Norton Museum of Art’s 45th Gala celebrated Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern, an exhibition exploring the artist’s work and public persona as well as illustrating the power of visionary women. The Gala 2020 Chairs were Lori Gendelman, Nicki Harris, Amy Phelan, and Anne Reyes. The event’s Honorary Chairs were Beth Rudin DeWoody, Michele Kessler, Judy Lauder, and Sally Ross Soter.
The Norton Art Museum is the area’s premier art destination.The Norton’s inspirational tree, a South Dixie Highway landmark.
Among The Norton Gala’s most generous patrons were: Ann and Gil Maurer, Jane Carroll and Leo Arnaboldi, The Postage Stamp Farm Foundation, Bonnie McElveen-Hunter, John and Carol Moran, Amy and John Phelan, Rick Salomon and Laura Landro, Ruth and Ted Baum Mr. and Mrs. James N. Bay, Nancy Brinker, May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc. / Beth Rudin DeWoody and Firooz Zahedi / Madeleine K. Rudin, Jim and Audrey Foster, Lori and Bruce Gendelman, Audrey and Martin D. Gruss, J. Ira and Nicki Harris, Jane Holzer, Thomas and Judith Iovino / Ellen and Larry Sosnow, Ann and Tom Johnson, Jim and Irene Karp / Jean S. Sharf, Michele and Howard Kessler, Sidney Kohl Family Foundation, Leonard and Judy Lauder, Loewenberg Charitable Foundation / James R. Loewenberg / Robin Loewenberg Tebbe & Mark Tebbe, Nicola and Jeff Marcus, Thomas and Heidi McWilliams, Mitchell and Hilarie Morgan, Anne and Chris Reyes, Toni and Martin Sosnoff, William John and Sarah Ross Soter, Sotheby’s, Christine and Bob Stiller, Robbi and Bruce Toll, and the Kerry and Simone Vickar Family Foundation. Corporate support included SALVATORE FERRAGAMO, Sotheby’s, and Graff.
Guests arriving for Saturday night’s Gala.Before entering the Kenneth C. Griffin Building, guests passed Heyman Plaza, centered by the Michelle and Joseph Jacobs reflecting pool with Claes Oldenberg and Coosje van Bruggen’s sculpture Typewriter Eraser, Scale X, 1999.
1 February 2020 – 6:30 pm. 45th Gala benefit for The Norton Art Museum 1450 South Dixie Highway — West Palm Beach
Gil Maurer, the event’s Grand Visionary.Gala co-chairs Lori Gendelman, Amy Phelan, and Nicki Harris.L. to r.: Anne Reyes, Gala co-chair; John Phelan, one of the evening’s Visionaries.Sally Soter, honorary co-chair, and Bill Soter.Craig Starr, Anne Pasternak, Beth Rudin DeWoody, honorary co-chair, and Rob Wynne.Waiting for the 750.Leonard and Judy Lauder, honorary co-chair, with Nicki and Ira Harris.Hillary Geary Ross and Wilbur Ross, United States Secretary of Commerce.Jim and Irene Karp.Elliot Bostwick Davis and Christy Williams Coombs.Debbie Stapleton.L. to r.: Bruce Gendelman, chairman of The Norton’s board of trustees; Ashley Schiff Ramos.Kathryn and Leo Vecellio.Don Burns, Karin Luter, and Michael Lizanich.Linda and Gary Lachman.Within the art space, Jim Freeman contemplates one of the collection’s works.L. to r.: Michel Witmer; Maynard Monrow.Nicola Marcus and Marcy Edelstein.Burt Minkoff, Laura Evans, and Laura Moore.Clelia and Tom Zacharias.Michael Lorber, James Zimmerman, Matthew Bailey, and Daniel Spelman.Erik Brown and Dale Coudert.Karin Luter and Talbott Maxey.Gigi and Harry Benson.Graff models displayed selections.Kristin Hjellegjierde and Michael Wurzel, The Norton project’s supervising architect and partner with Foster + Partners.A Pop-Up at The New Norton.
30 January 2020 – 7:30 pm. 2020 ArtBeat Pre-Gala Party Norton Art Museum 1450 South Dixie Highway – West Palm Beach
Karin Luter and Nicola Marcus,co-chairs of the 2020 Pre-Gala’ ArtBeat.DJ Mad Marg, aka Marjorie Gubelmann, stationed overlooking the Ruth and Carl Shapiro Great Hall converted for the event into a dance space.Guests disembarked on the museum’s north side.The Kenneth C. Griffin Building overlooks the Michelle and Joseph Jacobs one-inch high reflection pool in Heyman Plaza, featuring the 19-foot high Pop sculpture Typewriter Eraser, Scale X ,1999.Elliot Bostwick Davis, the museum’s director and CEO. A descendant of the Vanderbilt-Webb-Havemeyer-Bostwick lineage and related to several landmark Palm Beach families, Davis was a curator at The Met and at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts before leading The Norton, her first venture as a museum director.The Bostwicks — Dorothy, Albert, Dunbar (Davis’ grandfather), Lillian (Lilly Pulitzer’s mother), and Pete — with their mother Marie Lillian Stokes Bostwick, wife of Albert Carlton Bostwick, Jr., the only son of Jabez Abel Bostwick, among the largest shareholders of the Standard Oil Company who became a founding partner and first treasurer of the Standard Oil Trust.Luis Fernandez, Lori Gendelman, Jeffrey Marcus, Elliot Bostwick Davis, and Nicola Marcus.David and Nicki McDonald.Helga Piaget and Blanca DiLeo.More than 300 of The Norton’s supporters attended.Hilary Musser.L. to r.: Tom Quick; Molly Fitzpatrick and Sloan Mauran.The museum’s supporters perused the available artworks for sale during the silent auction.Diego and Kristin Urrutia.Rita and Charles Bronfman Garden Room in the Pamela and Robert Goergen Gardens.Liza and Jon Mauck.L. to r.: Thomas Petterfy; Nilani Trent.Guests gathered on the terrace for cocktails before heading to the Shapiro Great Hall to kick up their heels.Michael Lorber, center, with Steve and Joanna Myers.Jim Hogan and Lynn Mackle.Salwa Andaloussi and Nathalie Ryan.A new 150-foot sculpture gallery addition fronts a Great Lawn, part of the recent expansion.On the terrace of The Restaurant at The Norton.Into the night.
