An Evening with William Eggleston at Aperture’s Fall Benefit

“I’ve never felt the need to enhance the world in my pictures, because the world is spectacular enough as it is.” —William Eggleston

Guest of honor William Eggleston Sr. Will Matsuda © Aperture

Bettye LaVette. Will Matsuda © Aperture

Guest of honor William Eggleston Sr. Will Matsuda © Aperture

Richard Renaldi, Bruce Davidson, and guest with Nan Goldin. Will Matsuda © Aperture

Alessio Bax. Patrick McMullan © PMc

Guests enjoying the photoset. Max Mikulecky © Aperture

Judy and Leonard Lauder. Will Matsuda © Aperture

Elizabeth Stribling and Cathy Kaplan. Patrick McMullan © PMc

Bonnie Lautenberg, Steve Leber, Bob Gruen, and Elizabeth Gregory. Patrick McMullan © PMc

Elizabeth Kahane. Patrick McMullan © PMc

Celso and Sondra Gilman Gonzalez-Falla. Jared Siskin © PMc

Guests enjoying the photoset by Emily Thompson Flowers. Max Mikulecky © Aperture

Chris Boot with guest and Thomas Schiff. Jared Siskin © PMc

Lee Friedlander and guest of honor William Eggleston Sr. Jared Siskin © PMc

Aperture's Benefit Auction featuring work by Inez & Vinoodh. Jared Siskin © PMc

Weyes Blood. Patrick McMullan © PMc

Chris Boot. Jared Siskin © PMc

Libby Calloway and Andra Eggleston. Jared Siskin © PMc

Melissa O'Shaughnessy and Anne Stark Locher. Patrick McMullan © PMc

William Eggleston III and Nicholas Eggleston. Patrick McMullan © PMc

Zanele Muholi. Jared Siskin © PMc

Ashlyn Davis, Suzanne Kilpatrick, and Jean Karotkin. Jared Siskin © PMc

Eggleston's grandchildren at the photoset. Max Mikulecky © Aperture

Elaine Goldman and David Raymond. Max Mikulecky © Aperture

Lesley A. Martin with Whit and Nadiya Williams. Jared Siskin © PMc

Christina Caputo with guest, Aliza Sena, and Sarah Haimes. Patrick McMullan © PMc

Michael Schmelling and Jason Nocito. Patrick McMullan © PMc

Aperture Benefit Party atmosphere. Jared Siskin © PMc

Lyle Ashton Harris and Chris Boot. Will Matsuda © Aperture

Darius Himes of Christie's. Jared Siskin © PMc

On October 24, Aperture Foundation’s benefit, “Dear Bill,” honored William Eggleston for his contribution to photography and his lifelong passion for music. Though his name is synonymous with the acceptance of color photography by the art world, William Eggleston is also a virtuoso piano player, and his work has appeared on several album covers. In Aperture magazine’s fall issue, “Sounds,” John Jeremiah Sullivan profiles Eggleston, who, looking at one of his photographs, muses, “either everything works or nothing works”—simple as that. Eggleston’s most recent book, the ten-volume Democratic Forest (2015), contains more than ten thousand photographs and is the basis for Eggleston’s first exhibition at David Zwirner Gallery, opening Thursday, October 27.

Eggleston’s prolific career was the focus of Aperture’s annual benefit, which drew more than six hundred guests and raised approximately $650,000 in support of its publications, public programming, and educational initiatives. The event was cohosted by David Byrne, Sb Cooper and RL Besson, Jeff Garlin, Sondra Gilman Gonzalez-Falla and Celso Gonzalez-Falla, Elizabeth and William Kahane, Cathy Kaplan, Judy and Leonard Lauder, Nion McEvoy, Jessica Nagle, and David Zwirner. Over the preceding weekend, the benefit festivities kicked off with a series of exclusive events: visits with photographers Adam Fuss, Richard Phibbs, and Richard Mosse, a cocktail party at Aperture’s Chelsea gallery, a private visit to Yale’s photography collection, and a reception at Steinway Hall.

Taking a cue from vinyl album covers, the Paddle8-sponsored silent auction included square, twelve-by-twelve-inch prints. Thirty-two artists, including Stephen Shore, Rosalind Fox Solomon, Alex Webb, and Penelope Umbrico, contributed prints, all of which sold. Sara Friedlander, Vice President and Head of Evening Sale at Christie’s, presided over the live auction, which featured a commission by Doug and Mike Starn, as well as photographs by Bruce Davidson, Zanele Muholi, and Juergen Teller.

A slideshow of photographs from The Democratic Forest set the stage for live music performances directed by Pat Irwin. Musical performers included Alessio Bax, Bettye LaVette, Weyes Blood, and Lafayette Harris. Chances with Wolves closed with an upbeat DJ set.

 

Additional party photos are available on patrickmcmullan.com.

 

Click here to make a donation to Aperture’s Annual Fund.

 

The 2016 Aperture Foundation Benefit Party and Auction was generously supported by: Christie’s, Foto Care, ropeadope, Steinway & Sons, Emily Thompson Flowers, Espolòn Tequila, Fine Art Frameworks, Ilford, LTI Lightside, and Paddle8.

 

Bene­fit Committee

Sponsors

Sb Cooper and RL Besson

Judy and Leonard Lauder

Leaders

Elaine Goldman and John Benis

Sondra Gilman Gonzalez-Falla and Celso Gonzalez-Falla

Elizabeth and William Kahane

Cathy M. Kaplan and Renwick D. Martin

Anne Stark Locher and Kurt Locher

Nion McEvoy

Scott Mead

Melissa and James O’Shaughnessy

Malú Alvarez

Ann Ames

Rita Anthoine

agnès b.

Peter Barbur and Tim Doody

Dawoud Bey

Allan Chapin and Anna Rachminov

Cheim & Read

Kate Cordsen

Fine Art Frameworks

Randi and Bob Fisher

Arthur Fleischer, Jr.

Foto Care Ltd.

Annette Y. Friedland

Barbara J. Goodbody

Elizabeth Grover

Agnes Gund

Hermès Foundation

Darius Himes, Christie’s

Michael Hoeh

Lynne and Harold Honickman

Ingram Content Group

Darlene Kaplan

Bonnie Englebardt Lautenberg

Susana Torruella Leval and Pierre N. Leval

David Levy and Amanda Bowman

Peter and Susan MacGill

Merideth W. McGregor and Kevin Flach

Patrick McMullan

Joel Meyerowitz

Jessica Nagle and Roland Hartley-Urquhart

Helen W. Nitkin

Lori Perlow

Sarah Gore Reeves and Enrique Norten

Ropeadope Records

Mara and Ricky Sandler

Thomas R. Schiff

Frederick M. R. Smith

David Solo

Steinway & Sons

Michael Ward Stout, The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation

Elizabeth Stribling and Guy Robinson

D. Severn Taylor and J. Scott Switzer

Willard Taylor and Virginia Davies

John C. Williams

Whit Williams

David Zwirner

Additional support from:

Renee Preisler Barasch

Andrew Craven and Rodger Hicks

Jean Karotkin

Kasper

Emily-Jane Kirwan, Marian Goodman Gallery

Philippe Laumont

Mark and Elizabeth Levine

Jack Lueders-Booth

Lauren and Michael Marrus

Jessica May

Sarah McNear and Ian Wardropper

Mauricio Morato

Yancey Richardson

Christine Traina

Tanya Wells

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