Reporting by Leah
The Parrish Art Museum held its Midsummer Party in Southampton, New York, on Saturday, July 10, 2010. The event co-chairs were Parrish trustees Deborah Bancroft and Dorothy Lichtenstein and honorees were Beth Rudin DeWoody and Ross Bleckner.
The Parrish Art Museum’s Annual Midsummer Party sold out with over 500 guests attending the beautifully decorated dinnerand an additional 500 people attended the after-party for drinks, desserts,and dancing and raised $700,000. The Parrish’s annual gala is a social gathering of the Hamptons’ most sophisticated art collectors, artists, socialites, entertainers, philanthropists and business leaders.
Summer in the Hamptons is like no other time or place in the world, and there is no occasion like the Midsummer Party. The highlight of the summer season, the Midsummer Party, is also the Parrish Art Museum’s most important fundraising event of the year.
The evening started at 7:00pm with cocktails and viewing of Rackstraw Downes: Onsite Paintings 1972-2008, the first survey of this recent MacArthur Fellow in an American museum, and currently on view through August 8, 2010. Dinner followed at 8:00pm with catering by Glorious Food and music by DJ Tom Finn. The after party started at 10:00pm, with desserts, drinks and dancing, and the dance floor was hopping.
Honoree Beth Rudin DeWoody is one of America’s most energetic and creative art patrons and a committed philathropist, collector, curator, and great champion of the Parrish. Her dedication is matched only by her creativity and leadership. Over the years, she has served as a trustee of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and New Yorkers for Children, to name just a few.
The other honoree, Ross Bleckner, has been the subject of major exhibitions in museums internationally-he was the youngest artist ever to have a solo exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim-and his brilliant and beautiful paintings are held in prominent collections throughout the world. Also a noted humanitarian, Ross serves on the board of ACRIA and is the only artist ever to be names asa United Nations Ambassador for Goodwill for his work with children in Uganda.
About The Parrish Art Museum:
The Parrish celebrates the artistic legacy of Long Island’s East End, one ofAmerica’s most vital creative centers so close to the artcenter of New York City yet worlds away. The Parrish is home to a world-class permanent collection featuring more than 2,000works of art by contemporary painters and sculptorssuch asJohn Chamberlain,Chuck Close,Eric Fischl, April Gornik, Elizabeth Peyton, as well as such masters as Dan Flavin, Roy Lichtenstein, Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, and Willem de Kooning.The Parrish houses one of the world’s most important collections of works by the preeminent American Impressionist William Merritt Chase, and by the groundbreaking post-war American realist painter Fairfield Porter. The Parrish is a vital cultural resource serving a diverse audience, organizing and presenting exhibitions making available a broad range of art to the community.The Museum offers a dynamic schedule of creative and engaging public programs including lectures, films, performances concerts and studio classes for all ages.
Formore information on the Parrish Art Museum please visit www.parrishart.org.
