Tour of Peggy and David Rockefeller Collection at Christie's

The 13th Annual Alumni Parents Council Lecture Series took our eighth graders and alumni parent community to Christie's Auction House for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tour and study The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller prior to this week's widely anticipated sale.

After we arrived at Christie's in Rockefeller Center, John Hays, P'10, Deputy Chairman of American Furniture and Decorative Arts, welcomed us and introduced our speaker, Jonathan Rendell, Deputy Chairman of Christie’s Americas and overall curator of The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller Collection.

Mr. Rendell screened a video about the Rockefeller family, which featured their important role in New York City history, extraordinary commitment to philanthropy, and passion for art. He then presented a slide show of highlights from the collection, which includes works by Picasso, Matisse, Monet, Manet, and other masters. Everything in the collection comes from David and Peggy Rockefeller's three homes, and all proceeds of the sale will go to charity.

Once the remarks concluded, we split into groups to tour the collection, beautifully laid out across three floors.

The boys, who have been studying art history this year in their humanities class and are currently working on their Arco projects, simply loved it.

Our gratitude to Christie's and to Saint David's Alumni Parents Council Co-Chairs Winnie Feng, P'99 and Annie Haddad, P'09 and '12, for bringing us this remarkable event for our graduating class and alumni parent community.

Comments

NE Patriot Tom Brady at Saint David’s

Last night, Saint David’s was honored to have one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, four time Superbowl champion and three-time MVP winner Tom Brady, as the guest speaker for our Alumni Parents Council Lecture Series. Tom, who is the father of one of our Saint David's boys, addressed a standing-room-only audience in Hyman Hall comprised of our eighth graders, alumni, alumni parents and faculty. Friendly, introspective, witty, and wise, he directed his talk to the delighted eighth graders in the front of the room, and focused on the topic of leadership. “You are the young men and leaders of Saint David’s,” he noted. Tom debunked the perception that leaders are born not made, and credited his leadership abilities to “standing up to and facing fears” and to “cultivating a mental strength,” which he cited as “more important than being physically strong.” He also stressed the importance of working hard, honoring teamwork, believing in oneself and being a good lis...

Fascinating Art Talk by Michelle Marder Kamhi at Grandparents Event

Yesterday evening, independent scholar and critic Michelle Marder Kamhi ( www.mmkamhi.com ), co-editor with husband Louis Torres of Aristos , an online review of arts; author of Who Says That's Art? A Commonsense View of the Visual Arts ; and grandmother of two Saint David's boys, gave a thought provoking talk on art for our grandparent community. An advocate of objective standards in arts scholarship and criticism, Ms. Kamhi focused her talk on the ways in which art critics such as Clement Greenberg promoted the shift from representational art to abstraction. Kamhi argues that the abstract and post-modern art prevalent today, which often requires explanation by docents in order to be understood, goes against art's purpose. Taking issue with Greenberg's contention that representation is an expendable convention of painting, she quoted the late art critic John Canaday: "Art is the tangible expression of the intangible values that men live by." ...

Digital Universe Unit With AMNH-Hayden Planetarium Kicks Off

The second year of our unique partnership with the American Museum of Natural History-Hayden Planetarium kicked off on Friday when the sixth grade had their first session of the Digital Universe unit. The session included a private viewing at the planetarium in which boys were able to explore the entire universe. They and their teachers were invited to view the show from the vantage point of the floor in the center of the round theater, staring up into the apex of the dome. What an amazing perspective! Museum educator and astro-visualization expert Nathan Belomy took the boys on a tour of the observable universe, allowing them to get a feel for the scale of distance and size in the universe. In a fun activity related to scale, the boys set down a volleyball (representing the sun) at 79th Street, and walked for blocks down Columbus avenue with the planets in our solar system represented by a variety of smaller objects – a cupcake sprinkle, a marble – predicting and then m...

Headmaster's Blog

Search This Blog