The Whitney was chock-full of Chuck Close fans—many of them major artists themselves—at the museum's Monday-night gala celebrating the living legend. "Chuck is a really important artist and such a role model," said Jeff Koons during the cocktail hour in the sculpture court. "I've always loved the hyper-realness and freedom in his work. It's very heroic." Over dinner in the fourth-floor galleries, guests such as Vera Wang, Yvonne Force Villareal, Thelma Golden, and Kyra Sedgwick enjoyed a special performance by pianist Bruce Levingston: a rendition of Philip Glass' A Musical Portrait of Chuck Close. Joked Close, "I thought it'd be better to have 12 minutes of music than 12 minutes of speeches."

Elsewhere, the praise came fast and furious. Surrounded by the larger-than-life tapestry portraits of Kate Moss, Cindy Sherman, and Andres Serrano that gave the party its "Shades of Gray" title, co-chair Meryl Streep, who was outfitted in the evening's sponsor, Akris, picked her favorites. "I think his self-portrait is amazing because it's so intense," she said. "And I love the Renée Fleming one so much that I can hardly stand it."

— Katie Hintz