That is the way I felt by the time our guests left the evening of our Grand Opening.
It was wonderful just the kind of mix one likes to see. There were museum directors and curators; clients and scholars; young and old; former members of the team at Rosenberg & Stiebel from 20 and 30 years ago; school chums from my distant past… and all are friends. Years ago my mother asked me if I had any friends because I was always involved with people who related to the art world – hey, that is what I enjoy there is a great deal of cross fertilization be they scholars, museum people, clients friends they are all rolled up into one!
When you have a good mixed group come together people reconnect, for instance, former members of the staff at the Metropolitan Museum see each other for the first time in years and after a few minutes they are reminiscing about “the good/bad old days”.
I remember a couple who were major collectors of contemporary art and they came regularly to our exhibitions when we had Stiebel Modern. At one of these openings one of them said to me, “I don’t like what you show but I love the way you do it.” They liked my style, what greater compliment can you get!
Aside from a great party, the ambience of our gallery allows us to discuss our common interests in the arts, and acts as a wonderful reminder of what we deal in and the quality of works of art that Stiebel, ltd. is known for.
It was gratifying how many of our guests told me about pieces in the gallery that they had read about in my ‘Missives from the Art World’. We don’t do art fairs off of our premises and we don’t advertise but in our media crazed world we have a niche to tell our stories. Missives and parties are the ways we do it.
Of course, you are dying to know whether we sold anything. Guests asked for images, data sheets and prices. Much easier today with email and jpegs than having transparencies reproduced and sending them out. When you have enough irons in the fire some of them get hot enough to brand with!
Take a look maybe you will see someone you know…
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