Rainy and cold autumn day and night

Autumn-inspired rooftops on the Upper West Side. 2:45 PM. Photo: JH.

October 16, 2009. Rainy day yesterday, with traffic (East Side) crawling southward at a snail’s pace. Sometimes it seems like there are more cars than at other times. Yesterday was like that in New York. It was one of those days where you could move faster on foot than in a cab. Except it was raining and blowing just enough to turn the umbrella inside out and leave your pantcuffs wet.

Last night was Arts, Culture & History Night for me in New York. Early evening I went down to the Park Avenue Armory where the Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) was hosting its 21st Annual Preview Party. I got there about 6:30 and there was a big crowd assembling. It was a great place to get in out of the weather.

Goedhuis Contemporary.

Torkom Demirjian of Ariadne Galleries (New York, Paris, Munich) before a carving from Saba (Southern Arabia), the civilization of the Queen of Sheba.

Gerard Widdershoven of Maison Gerard at 53 East 10th Street.

Mallett, UK/USA.

Clinton Howell Antiques: A rare mahogany Johnstone and Jeanes patented expanding round dining table, having three sets of leaves, 1850. $285,000. Chandra Jessee, Catherine Heald, Clinton Howell, Julius Gaudio, Donald Heald, Jeremy Markowitz

Apter-Fredericks Ltd., UK.

Jason Jacques Gallery, USA.

This is always a snazzy affair. It occupies most of the Armory’s ground floor with the booths of treasures. For the preview night there are buffets along the corridors of booths, as well as an area in the rear of the building to sit down and have something to eat. All kinds of glorious eats from Glorious Foods. The dress is glamorous. The pearls come out; the brooches. It looks like the Hollywood version of a New York Upper East Side evening. They expected about a thousand so the corridors of fancy were busy.

There is a lot of meet and greet because many friends support SMSKCC. The committeewomen get on their phones (and cells) and beat the drum.

Eddie Keshishian of Keshishian/ UK.

WaterHouse & Dodd, UK.

A continental carved and painted wood oval portrait plaque of Julius Caesar, late 18th Century, from H.M. Luther.

DPC and Axel Vervoordt. We've run into Mr. Vervoordt several times at Art Fairs here and in Europe where his booth is always a big draw. We also had the pleasure of visiting his castle outside Antwerp.

Ronald Phillips, Antique English Furniture.

E & R Cyzer 20th Century Art: Tom Wesselmann, Still Life with Petunias, Lilies and Fruit, 1985.

I was headed elsewhere so I tried to get quick look with the digital. This is a Haughton Fair, produced by Anna and Brian Haughton of London. Mr. Haughton also takes a big booth -- where I photographed him with Betty Sherrill of McMillen.

This is the perfect weekend (rain forecast) to take in the show at the Armory.

Beautiful things – art, antiques, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, silver, textiles books – to see, to freshen up the mind if not your library or dining room or study. Out of the rain and into the Sun.

Daisy Soros

Libby Fitzgerald, Grace Meigher, and Lisa McCarthy

Eleonora Kennedy

Chris Leasure and Alison Minton

Joanne de Guardiola and Evelyn Lauder

Bettina Zilkha and George Farias

Lesley Jones, Beth Hardwick, and Mary Davidson

Sian Ballen and Jennifer Ceasar

Michael Goedhuis

Beth and Bob Hardwick

Emilia Saint-Amand

Brian Haughton and Betty Sherrill

Leonel Piraino and Nina Griscom

Barbara de Portago and Gillian Fuller

Ann Nitze and Patrick Gerschel

Tina and Simón Beriro

Mary McFadden

Jamee Gregory

Jamie Figg and Margo Langenberg

Vera Gibbons and Evelyn Tompkins

Wilbur and Hilary Ross, Christopher Mason, and Nazee Moinian

Jim Brodsky and Philippe and Denise Roederer

Gillian and Sylvester Miniter

Green for emeralds

From the Armory, I went down to the Plaza where the World Monuments Fund was holding its 2009 Hadrian Award Gala. They were honoring David Rockefeller Jr. Dinner Chairs were Mica Ertegun, Fernanda Kellogg, Nina Joukowsky Koprulu and Jack Shear.

The World Monuments Fund has for the past four decades taken on the preservation of endangered architectural and cultural heritage sites all over the world from Machu Picchu to little known desert castles of ancient Khorezm, Uzbekistan. The funds they raise go to preservation, restoration, reconstruction, repair.

Every year since 1988, they’ve honored some individual or individuals with the Hadrian Award, named for the Roman emperor. Honorees have ranged from Paul Mellon, Prince Charles, Brooke Astor, Richard Jenrette, the Sainsbury brothers, Eugene Thaw, The Maharajah of Jodhpur to Viscount Norwich.

It’s a very elite organization, the likes of which you see less and less of in New York. Its members are often those interested in history, the arts and antiquity, and their preservation. It’s through the World Monuments Fund that we are learning more about what’s left of our quickly receding past and its wonders.

The table for the World Monuments Fund dinner.

Last night’s honoree was David Rockefeller Jr. Mr. Rockefeller’s father David Sr. was honored with the same award fifteen years ago.

Mr. Rockefeller is regarded as a “leader” of his family’s 4th generation – known as “the cousins.” This generation has now succeeded the brothers, all of whom have passed away except for David Sr. The Cousins’ generation have expanded the family’s patrimony from its initial fortune building and maintaining into participating in the community in a variety of constructive ways either professionally or philanthropically.

Last night’s honoree graduated from Harvard and Harvard Law and then went to work for the Boston Symphony. A lover of music, he is also a founding member of Boston’s Cantata Singers which he has been involved with since he was a young man fresh out of college.

Mr. Rockefeller also likes to sing. In his honor there were two performances of song last night – first from the Attacca Quartet with guest pianist Michael Bukhman, and before the award, the Cantata Singers.

The Attacca Quartet with guest pianist Michael Bukhman.

Employing the family’s established philanthropic tradition, the honoree has carried on the concern for our natural environment, serving on the boards of the National Park Foundation and the Alaska Conservation Foundation. He also funded the Alaska Fund for the Future. He is also an avid sailor which has led him to getting involved marine conservation and the oceans’ health.

The Rockefellers as philanthropists are engaged in long term projects to develop, improve and enhance life. They are more than mere contributors and its been a family tradition for five generations now. It’s a big picture point of view. David Rockefeller Jr.’s interests have to do with the relationship between the environment’s sustainability and the sustenance of planet’s inhabitants – all of them. Tall orders, big pictures, and honoring the touchstones to the past.

Last night the honoree was introduced by Mort Zuckerman, the real estate developer and investor who also owns the Daily News and other publications. Mr. Zuckerman is an old friend of Mr. Rockefeller.