“CHILDREN AND ART”
Ladies and gents,
The best invitation I’ve received all month came courtesy of Corice Arman for an intimate dinner at her home celebrating the second printing of the American Theatre Wing’s Centennial tome. Hers is the very home in which I watched the 2016 election returns come in. This event promised to have a better outcome.
Corice has known the book’s editor, Patrick Pacheco, some 25 years – which is just five years shorter than the amount of time she has lived in the same four-story building on Washington Street. The first three floors are workshops and studio spaces, where her late husband, Arman, created much of his now iconic art. The fourth floor is a grand residence filled, as one might expect, with an incredible art collection spanning Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
I immediately noticed, upon entering, that a handful of Andy Warhol portraits of both her and Arman had been replaced by others – similar but not the same. The missing paintings, she tells me, are currently on loan to The Whitney, as they are part of the buzzy Warhol retrospective. Imagine not just having your own Warhol portraits, but also spares! One of Corice’s claims to fame is that she was the first portrait subject that Warhol ever painted topless (her top, not his)
Pacheco was on hand, naturally, as was American Theatre Wing president, Heather Hitchens, its former Chair, William Ivey Long, and an array of notables including Adrian Bryan-Brown, Carmen de Lavallade, and New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov, who is off to London to file a bombshell report on a new region churning out solid sparklers that – I’m told – will make the French très en colère. Angela Lansbury’s longtime right hand man, Robert Callaley, was there and reported that Ms. Lansbury just celebrated her 93rd birthday in grand style and, unlike a certain Miss Daisy, is still driving herself everywhere!
The food, entirely prepared by Corice herself, was a work of art unto itself. Being around so much fragile valuables makes me nervous so I imbibed cautiously, but still managed to just narrowly avoid crashing head-on into a 2500-year-old African sculpture on my way out the door.
Tidbits from around town…
Spotted Michaela Watkins standing on the street by herself, admiring the Flatiron Building.
Overheard Dixie Chicks’ lead singer Natalie Maines outside of the Sherry-Netherland utter the following: “I don’t care what Howard says! Tan Mom is not a Wack Packer!” Can someone please translate?
Saw Bebe Neuwirth kissing Michael Kors (no tongue!) at City Center, before the gala performance of A Chorus Line.
As always, a toast of something sparkling to you and yours!
Kisses,
Scoop V
