Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/660802
A GRAND SUPPER WITH A SILVER LINING BY JANE ROZELLE. PHOTOGRAPHY TAMYTHA CAMERON SMITH, DANA DRIENSKY. APRIL | PAGE 10 | 2016 A BRIGHT LIGHT ALWAYS SHINES UPON SILVER SUPPER, THE FASHIONABLE GALA THAT RAISES FUNDS FOR THE DALLAS MUSEUM OF ART'S DECORATIVE ARTS ACQUISITION ENDOWMENT FUND. THIS YEAR'S AFFAIR WAS MORE RESPLENDENT THAN EVER, WITH A TRIO OF TO-DOS — FROM THE PATRON PARTY HELD AT A CHIC HIGHLAND PARK MANSE TO THE DEBUT SILVER SUPPER SYMPOSIUM, STARRING A FABULOUS ASSEMBLY OF DECORATIVE MASTERS, INCLUDING THEATER DIRECTOR FLYNN KUHNERT AND MAXIMALIST INTERIOR DESIGNER HUTTON WILKINSON, TO THE GALA ITSELF, STAGED INSIDE THE MUSEUM'S MOST PICTURESQUE GALLERIES. E lsie de Wolfe, the great first lady of interior decoration, once espoused, "I am going to make everything around me beautiful. That will be my life." Had she attended the Dallas Museum of Art's Silver Supper gala, she would have been mightily impressed. For 24 years, the DMA has played host to the exclusive dinner, where only the most elite patrons are invited to dine among the museum's unparalleled collection of sterling objets. It all began in the late '80s, just a few years after the DMA received a landmark bequest: hundreds of pieces of 18th– and early-19th-century English and Irish silver, from the collection of the late Esther and Karl Hoblitzelle, two of our city's brightest collectors, philanthropists and entertainers. Seeking inspiration from the notable couple, and to ensure its collection of decorative arts continued to grow, the museum manifested a new tradition — a decadent banquet featuring the very pieces that once dressed the Hoblitzelle's table. And so it began. Cut to 2016: An incandescent sight to behold, Silver Supper chairmen Claire Dewar and Cathy Kincaid Hudson pulled out all the stops, trimming the DMA in a breathtaking manner, with deGournay panels depicting Indian landscapes, carved settees, pave ranunculus arranged in brass bowls and ornamental peacocks topping tables draped in lively saris. Room after room was a splashy, east-meets-west utopia — the result of Hudson's well- trained eye (a top interior decorator) and event designer Margaret Ryder of Fleurt Floral Design. The supper was held inside the museum's Chilton II gallery, where tables dazzled with a wealth of precious silver. The beautiful dinner, by way of the culinary minds at The Joule Hotel, was simply divine — fit for any Maharaja's fancy. On the silver scene: DMA interim director Walter Elcock with wife Laura; DMA board of trustees chair Melissa Fetter with husband Trevor; Silver Supper honorees Bradbury Dyer III and Debra and Ken Hamlett; as well as Margaret McDermott, Nita and Cullum Clark, Dan Patterson, Leslie and Michael Lanahan, McCall Johansson, CeCe and Ford Lacy, Lisa Cooley, Gonzalo Bueno, Connie and Denny Carreker, Christie Carter, Mary McDermott Cook, and Beth and Fin Ewing. "ON CATHY'S SUGGESTION THAT WE GO INTO THE GALLERIES, I LOVED THE DOMESTIC FEEL OF EACH ROOM PAINTED IN MY FAVORITE COLORS, ALL WITH THEIR INDIVIDUAL PERSONALITIES: SOME WITH SILVER IN CASES OR ON TABLES, SOME WITH CEILINGS PATTERNED BY LIGHTS, ALL FILLED WITH THE CITY'S MOST ATTRACTIVE ARTS PATRONS." — CLAIRE DEWAR, SILVER SUPPER CO-CHAIR Gabriel Barbier- Mueller Melissa Fetter Trevor Fetter Ann Sutherland Julie Hawes Ed Hawes Maggie McMordie Mark Moussa Juliette Aston Cindy Rachofsky Howard Rachofsky Frank McMordie John Danzer Flynn Kuhnert Fran Baas Hutton Wilkinson Olivier Meslay David Sutherland Robert Brackbill Caroline Rose Hunt Travis Clark Ann Hobson Lee Hobson Robin McMonigle Peggy Sewell John Levy Carl Sewell John Falconer Robert Murchison Maggie Murchison Ann Barbier- Mueller Carol Levy Laura Lee Clark Falconer Heather Furniss Todd Furniss Cathy Kincaid Hudson Claire Dewar Mason Custard Allen Custard Louise Marsh Mia Brous Merry Vose Cristina Lynch Harry Lynch Margot Perot Ross Perot