Saturday, August 6th 2016 BEAUX ARTS BALL
To commemorate our 125 years of contributing to the material culture of Buffalo and Western New York, the Buffalo Society of Artists is offering its membership an opportunity to indulge in the pleasures of our opulent past and attend the reinvention of our gala Beaux Arts Ball.
Under the stewardship of Past Presidents Alex O Levy in the early 1930’s and George Palmer in the 1960’s, our artist members were given full creative rein to enjoy themselves in these masquerade extravaganzas; themed costume parties held in the highest echelon venues for the sole purpose of celebrating lives devoted to their art; a chance to appreciate fully not just the work, but to enjoy the personalities that make that work possible.
This year’s Ball, over fifty years since our last, will be themed to the tasteful but sensualist late 20’s as an homage to the start of this tradition. Attendees will dress in a manner that would have been seen in the grand society balls enjoyed at that time (think Great Gatsby and the last season of Downton Abbey!) Masks will also be encouraged but we recommend that they be of the elegant variety that would have been worn at these parties. We will be having our ball at the Lafayette Hotel, a perfect venue given its rich Art Deco aesthetic and capacity to provide the layered, multi-course dinner menu germane to that era.
After your red carpet walk down “Peacock Alley” to the hors d’oeuvres and open bar, you will be entertained by the period appropriate music of a live band, The Hot Club of Buffalo, and invited to dance as our fellow members did almost a century ago on the dance floor following a classic meal, much the same as they would have enjoyed themselves. Partygoers will have their revelry recorded for posterity by Documentarian, Jon Hand (the Filmmaker involved in our legacy Video Archive Project.) As part of our ongoing mission to help foster art education within Western New York, we are working closely with the Villa Maria Fashion Design and Merchandising Department as they theme Deco based projects around the Ball and provide student volunteers for the same. An exhibition dedicated to Art Deco fashion and art as related to the Beaux Arts tradition, and our place within that tradition, will be co-curated by the BSA and the FDM department at Villa Maria, to be presented in their gallery in advance of and concurrent with the Ball. The Beaux Arts Ball Committee is working diligently to provide for you the best value for cost and will present you an opportunity to secure your place in this historic event when we release our website devoted to the Ball soon!
For all that you do, all that you sacrifice and work for to bring beauty and truth into the world, treat yourself to this luxury and join us in our celebration of our city, the creative life, and your part in the ongoing history of this wonderful society of artists.
Sincerely,
Richard Christian
Beaux Arts Ball Event Co-chair
Under the stewardship of Past Presidents Alex O Levy in the early 1930’s and George Palmer in the 1960’s, our artist members were given full creative rein to enjoy themselves in these masquerade extravaganzas; themed costume parties held in the highest echelon venues for the sole purpose of celebrating lives devoted to their art; a chance to appreciate fully not just the work, but to enjoy the personalities that make that work possible.
This year’s Ball, over fifty years since our last, will be themed to the tasteful but sensualist late 20’s as an homage to the start of this tradition. Attendees will dress in a manner that would have been seen in the grand society balls enjoyed at that time (think Great Gatsby and the last season of Downton Abbey!) Masks will also be encouraged but we recommend that they be of the elegant variety that would have been worn at these parties. We will be having our ball at the Lafayette Hotel, a perfect venue given its rich Art Deco aesthetic and capacity to provide the layered, multi-course dinner menu germane to that era.
After your red carpet walk down “Peacock Alley” to the hors d’oeuvres and open bar, you will be entertained by the period appropriate music of a live band, The Hot Club of Buffalo, and invited to dance as our fellow members did almost a century ago on the dance floor following a classic meal, much the same as they would have enjoyed themselves. Partygoers will have their revelry recorded for posterity by Documentarian, Jon Hand (the Filmmaker involved in our legacy Video Archive Project.) As part of our ongoing mission to help foster art education within Western New York, we are working closely with the Villa Maria Fashion Design and Merchandising Department as they theme Deco based projects around the Ball and provide student volunteers for the same. An exhibition dedicated to Art Deco fashion and art as related to the Beaux Arts tradition, and our place within that tradition, will be co-curated by the BSA and the FDM department at Villa Maria, to be presented in their gallery in advance of and concurrent with the Ball. The Beaux Arts Ball Committee is working diligently to provide for you the best value for cost and will present you an opportunity to secure your place in this historic event when we release our website devoted to the Ball soon!
For all that you do, all that you sacrifice and work for to bring beauty and truth into the world, treat yourself to this luxury and join us in our celebration of our city, the creative life, and your part in the ongoing history of this wonderful society of artists.
Sincerely,
Richard Christian
Beaux Arts Ball Event Co-chair
Present
The 2016 Beaux Arts Ball will be an elegant affair to reflect the sophistication of the era which saw our greatest enjoyment of this artistic celebration of the joy of creative life. An authentic menu of food and drink is being created by the chef of the Lafayette Hotel in honor of this special occasion in celebration of the 125 year history of the Buffalo Society of Artists.
Costumes should be specific to this period (late 1920's to the mid 1930's) with the addition of elegant masks if desired. This site will provide you with links to providers of authentic vintage clothing for men and women as well as milliners, costume makers and resources for making your own costumes.
The BSA is teaming up with the Fashion Design and Merchandising Program at Villa Maria Collage to provide the highest level of accuracy in the information available to our members, and to promote our continued outreach to higher education in the Greater Buffalo Area. There will be a show of Deco fashion and our history with the Ball in the college gallery June and July of next year, and a course in construction techniques of Art Deco (late 20's to mid 30's) fashion available to our members as a one credit class or to be audited for a lesser amount, in the Spring of 2016 at Villa Maria College (see Information.)
Costumes should be specific to this period (late 1920's to the mid 1930's) with the addition of elegant masks if desired. This site will provide you with links to providers of authentic vintage clothing for men and women as well as milliners, costume makers and resources for making your own costumes.
The BSA is teaming up with the Fashion Design and Merchandising Program at Villa Maria Collage to provide the highest level of accuracy in the information available to our members, and to promote our continued outreach to higher education in the Greater Buffalo Area. There will be a show of Deco fashion and our history with the Ball in the college gallery June and July of next year, and a course in construction techniques of Art Deco (late 20's to mid 30's) fashion available to our members as a one credit class or to be audited for a lesser amount, in the Spring of 2016 at Villa Maria College (see Information.)
Beaux Arts Ball 1925 - 1935
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The Beaux Arts Ball (in French the Bal des Quatres Arts) is the annual costume ball traditionally given by the students of the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in the spring, in the École building on the rue Bonaparte overlooking the Seine. Elaborately allegorical floats circled the room at midnight and were judged by a panel. "It is a riot, a revival of paganism, known elsewhere only in Italy. It is also, in its way, a hymn to beauty, a living explosion of the senses and the emotions," wrote E. Berry Wall in Neither Pest Nor Puritan. Its reputation for fabulously designed nudity, louche antics, cross-dressing and high style encouraged imitators in American cities. In 1931, in New York, famous architects dressed up as their buildings and today, many American architecture schools hold similar costume balls.
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