Going Nude
The New York Academy of Art's Annual Benefit Raises $800,000
With nearly 100 chances to Take Home a Nude, the bidding was robust at last night's New York Academy of Art benefit auction and dinner. Many of the pieces, including a sculpture by Dustin Yellin that found admirers in both Mary-Kate Olsen and Fabiola Beracasa, were quite the steal. Angela Bassett, who was taking a break from her Broadway show The Mountaintop, wasn't planning on bidding but appreciated the scene. "I wish I had some of that painting and drawing talent," the actress said. "But I do it in other ways, like on the stage or on screen." Padma Lakshmi admitted she wasn't much of a fine artist, either, but she is an ardent fan. Seated at Eileen Guggenheim's dinner table, she cheered when New York Academy of Art president David Kratz rose to congratulate the evening's honorees, artist Jenny Saville and art historian John Richardson. "I love portraiture and I also love figurative art," the Top Chef star declared. "The human form, and specifically the female form, is one of the most beautiful organic shapes in nature." Plenty of her fellow partygoers were in agreement: The 20th annual event raised nearly $800,000 for the school.
ERROR:
