The High Museum of Art's first-ever Collectors' Evening, held Saturday at the W Atlanta Midtown, produced quite a haul of major new pieces for the institution's ever-growing permanent collection.
With more than 150 patrons paying $500 a person for the seated dinner, there was enough funds available to purchase four of the offerings, after seven High curators each made two-minute pitches and took questions.
A portfolio of 20 color photographs by Paul Fusco, of people paying respects as the Robert F. Kennedy funeral train moved down the Eastern Seaboard in 1968, won the most ballots in round one.
Subsequent rounds approved (in order): Kehinde Wiley's painting of a young man from Rio de Janeiro's slums in a classical pose mimicking a public sculpture in that city; a figurative sculpture from Africa's Kingdom of the Kongo; and a round back chair and table from the "Sketch Furniture" series from Stockholm, Sweden's Front Design.
Based on that success, High officials say there will be a second annual Collectors' Evening in 2011.
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