PHOTOS

On Tuesday, May 1, the American Friends of Museums in Israel honored Robert Longo at our Annual Cocktail Reception + Fine Art Auction in the St. Regis Hotel, New York.

Robert Longo, Artist of the Year, was celebrated for his work as an extraordinary artist of our time. He gave a wonderful, loving and heartfelt acceptance speech. As an artist, Mr. Longo has much to be grateful for, he said, but one of his favorite things about being an artist is sometimes being granted special entry to a museum before or after hours. To savor the art in the quiet. Special guests attending the evening were Eilat Lieber, Director and Chief Curator of the Tower of David Jerusalem Museum and Nissim Tal, Director General of the Haifa Museums.

Spread throughout five rooms, of the former private residence of John Jacob Astor IV, the attendees viewed fifty works offered in the silent and live auction. As cocktails were sipped and hors d'oeuvres were passed, a pianist from Juilliard played at the baby grand piano while the art-loving crowd took in the many lots available for bidding including: Lili Almog, John Baldessari, Louise Bourgeois, Stanley Casselman, Christo, Michael Craig-Martin, Tracey Emin, Carole A. Feuerman, Helen Frankenthaler, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, Laurence Jenkell, Anish Kapoor, Alex Katz, Hendrik Kerstens, Robert Longo, Robert Motherwell, Tom Otterness, Grear Patterson, Richard Prince, Mel Ramos, Gerhard Richter, Ed Ruscha, Wilhelm Sasnal, Richard Serra, Cindy Sherman, Hermann Struck, Donald Sultan, Spencer Tunick, Massimo Vitali, William Wegman, Dustin Yellin and others. Lucas Hunt of Hunt Auctioneers was a colorful addition to the Live Auction as he held sway over the crowd and urged continuous hands to be raised high!

Guests in attendance were include - Christoph Gerozissis and Amanda Singer of the Anton Kern Gallery; Nathan A. Bernstein and Katharina Otto-Bernstein; Ed Blank and Marta Gucovsky; Dr. Theodore Feder and Dr. Mirjana Feder, Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY; David and Joan Genser; Lillian Heidenberg; Miki Kagan; Lynn Kroll; Marcia Levin; David and Karen Mandelbaum; Nathan and Sheree Mandelbaum; Melissa Marr and Gary Lichtenstein; Janelle Reiring, Tom Heman and Karine Haimo of Metro Pictures; Jonathan Nadler; Carolina Nitsch; Carol Penn; Amy and George Roland; Betty and Miguel Schwarz; Rabbi Barton and Jane Shallat; Jack and Janet Teich; Jacky Teplitzky; Daniela Gareh of White Cube; Ofer and Shari Yardeni among others.

The American Friends were so pleased to have in attendance many of the artists who donated works for the special evening including: Lili Almog, Stanley Casselman, Michael Craig-Martin, Carole A. Feuerman, Laurence Jenkell, Robert Longo, Grear Patterson, Spencer Tunick, and Dustin Yellin.

The American Friends of Museums in Israel recognizes, promotes, and honors its outstanding partner museums in Israel by providing exhibition, program, project and financial support through the generosity of its donors. In addition, the American Friends provides heightened visibility for our partner museums at special events in New York and in all promotional material.

Our partner museums in Israel are Design Museum Holon; Haifa Museums that include the Haifa City Museum, Haifa Museum of Art, Hermann Struck Museum, Mané-Katz Museum, the National Maritime Museum and the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art; and the Tower of David Jerusalem Museum.

Photos by Maggie Marguerite Studio