Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1162046
42 An Evening Among WATER LILIES BY CHRISTINA GEYER. PHOTOGRAPHY ROBERT LAPRELLE. W hat better equation is there in life than champagne, caviar, and art. The Kimbell's private exhibition-opening dinners are legendary on both the society and art circuits, and having attended these events ourselves, we can attest to the museum's ability to throw a brilliant dinner party. The dinners are small, limited to the museum's most notable patrons and top brass, and no detail is spared. In June, the Kimbell toasted the opening of its blockbuster exhibition "Monet: The Late Years" (through late September), with the Impressionist master's water-lily paintings paired with flowers and centerpieces in similar earthy hues. Dresses with floral details were worn in homage by Brenda Cline and Kim Darden, Carole Hall, Kay Fortson, and Jennifer Casler Price — the Kimbell's curator for Asian and non-Western art, one of the museum's most stylish employees. Kimbell deputy director George Shackelford, the exhibition's curator, was aglow talking to patrons and friends about the show, which offered the first look at Monet's final years — the first such exhibition in more than two decades. Dinner guests included Eric Lee, director of the Kimbell, with his wife Rima Lee; Kimbell and Mitch Wynne; Lisa and Peter Alcorn; Shama and Asad Dean; Anna and Robert Edsel; and the Kimbell's newly appointed curator of European art, Guillaume Kientz, who moved here from Paris, where he was curator of Spanish, Portugese, and Latin American art at the Musée du Louvre. Does any museum in the country open an exhibition with more style than the Kimbell Art Museum? The answer is a resounding "no." George Shackelford, Julie Anna Potts & Parks Shackelford Alexandra Svich Bass & Kyle Bass Angela & Brooks Hall, Whitney & John Wynne Kay & Ben Fortson Kim & Glenn Darden Lisa Alcorn, Kimbell Wynne Eric & Rima Lee Jennifer Casler Price & Steve Price Marianne Mathieu, Angie Bulaich Lisa Burton, Mercedes Bass, Olivia Potts Robert & Anna Edsel