It wasn’t lunch, and there was no boat, but the Phillips Collection did as much as possible to capture the festive spirit of the museum’s most famous work, Pierre Auguste Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party,” at its Bal des Canotiers (Boaters’ Ball) Friday night.
It was difficult to imagine 360 guests dining together in one painting at any time, so the idea was to experience a sequence of events and a variety of rooms, all enhanced by floral designer Jack Lucky’s sensational arrangements. First cocktails and a chance to view the current exhibition, “Degas to Diebenkorn,” then dinner by candlelight with violins, beginning with lobster and French pressed spring pea soup (as complicated looking as it sounds). After a few words by retiring Phillips director Jay Gates — “My whole purpose is to tell you the party is on” — it was time for a trip across the street to the Society of the Cincinnati’s Anderson House for more cocktails and a multitude of high-calorie cheeses and desserts.
Whatever spring lacked in weather was made up inside by color on the walls and in a few of the ladies’ bright slinky print gowns. Alas for District Mayor Adrian M. Fenty coming from the office with no time to change. He managed a white shirt and fancy tie, while Michelle Fenty was stepping by gamely — and comfortably, she said — in Manolo Blahnik heels. Nina Totenberg drew all eyes to a voluminous ball gown that she said “my husband urged me to buy — with my own money” as she gyrated to “Honky Tonk Woman” under the elaborately coffered ceiling and crystal chandeliers.
Many stellar personalities turned out to cheer the new wing, increased endowment and Mr. Gates’ other accomplishments. He’ll be leaving soon for Chapel Hill, N.C., where he’ll be doing “a little consulting, a little teaching and a whole lot of exercise after 35 years of ceremonial eating and drinking.”
Debbie Dingell, when she could be torn away from a political discussion with Janet Howard (General Motors conferring with Coca Cola), said it was her first time at the event. Her husband, Rep. John D. Dingell, spoke of running for the 28th time for his Michigan congressional seat and noted that he fully expects to break the late Rep. Jamie Whitten’s all-time House seniority record (53 years and 60 days) on Feb. 17, 2009. Sidney Harman, perhaps resting on his laurels as instigator of downtown’s Harman Center for Arts, waited patiently to one side while his wife, Rep. Jane Harman, kibitzed with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. His next project, he said, would be “Jane Harman for President,” but she didn’t know about the plan yet.
Phillips Collection Chairman George Vradenburg, who spearheaded the ball committee’s effort to raise more than $500,000, welcomed guests with his wife, Trish, and co-hosts Roger and Vicki Sant. VIPs included Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. and his wife, Martha; Motion Picture of America Association chief Dan Glickman and his wife, Rhoda; and Australian Ambassador Dennis Richardson. William Hanbury, head of the newly named Destination DC , the official convention and tourism bureau for the District, said the number of visitors coming through town for the Cherry Blossom Festival this year set a record. Wyatt Dickerson personified the evening’s ebullient air by proudly showing off the inside pocket label of his raffish tuxedo, tailored, “after a referral by Douglas Fairbanks Jr.,” by London’s famed Davies & Son in 1966. “I’ll be buried in it,” he said with a laugh.
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