Museum Dinner and Ball

The Museum Dinner and Ball is an annual fund-raising event benefitting the Birmingham Museum of Art. Since 1976 funds from the event have typically been earmarked for major acquisitions, but have also helped expand the museum's educational programs.

The first ball was held in 1956 at Municipal Auditorium. Bibby Smith and Lydia Rogers organized the event, to which attendees brought their whiskey in brown paper bags. The dance raised about $3,000 for the museum's general fund.

Acquisitions

The following works owned by the museum were acquired largely through funds from Museum Balls:

• "Kitchen Interior", attributed to Isaak Koedijk, purchased with funds provided by the 1976 and 1977 Dinners and Balls.
• "Interior of Antwerp Cathedral" (1614) Bartholomeus van Bassen, purchased with funds provided by the 1976 and 1977 Dinners and Balls.
• "The Judgment of Paris" (1590) Hans van Aachen, purchased with funds provided by the 1979 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "Le Village D'Eragny" (1885) Camille Pissarro, purchased with funds provided by the 1980 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "View of Mount Etna" (1832) Thomas Cole, purchased with funds provided by the 1979 and 1980Dinners and Balls.
• "Foggy Morning at Pourville (Le Matin, Temps Brumeaux, Pourville)" (1882) Claude Monet, purchased with funds provided by the 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983 Dinners and Balls.
• "Christ Exorcising Devils from a Lame Man" (1600) Giocamo Cavedone, purchased with funds provided by the 1981 Museum Dinners and Balls.
• "Green Apple on a Black Plate" (1922) Georgia O'Keefe, purchased with funds provided by the 1981 and 1982 Museum Dinners and Balls.
• "Pottsville Mines" (1927) George Luks, purchased with funds provided by the 1983 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "New England Landscape with Meadow" (1865) John William Hill, purchased with funds provided by the 1983 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "Windy Winter Night" (1940) Charles Burchfield, purchased with funds provided by the 1983 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "Portrait of Lady Helen Vincent, Viscountess d'Abernon" (1904) John Singer Sargent, purchased with funds provided by the 1984 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "Prison Scene from J. Fennimore Cooper's The Pilot" (1841) Thomas Sully, purchased with funds provided by the 1984 Museum Dinner and Ball.

"Reclining Nude", purchased with funds form the 1985 Ball

• "Reclining Nude" (1984) Fernando Botero, purchased with funds provided by the 1985 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "Two Forms in Echelon" (1961) Barbara Hepworth, purchased with funds provided by the 1986 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "The Pure Land of Amitabha" (Ming dynasty, 1368-1644), purchased with funds provided by the 1987 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "Horse" (Tang dynasty, 618-906), purchased with funds provided by the 1988 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "Prairie Chapel Baptism" (1980) Birney Imes, purchased with funds provided by the 1989 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "Sacrifice to Minerva" (1788) Joseph-Marie Vien, purchased with funds provided by the 1989 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "Uma-Mahesvara (Siva and Parvati)" (Koysala dynasty, 12th-13th c.), purchased with funds provided by the 1990 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "Lithos II" (1993) Elyn Zimmermann, commissioned with funds provided by the 1991 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "Blue Pools Courtyard" (1993) Valerie Jaudon, commissioned with funds provided by the 1991 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "Le Bousson Chaude", "Le Boisson Froide", "Le Repas Froid Pendant La Chasse" and "Le Repas Froid Dans Le Parc" (c. 1750) Christophe Huet, purchased with funds provided by the 1992 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "Barbie" (1964) Grace Hartigan, purchased with funds provided by the 1997 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "Thousand-armed Avalokitesvara" (18th c.), purchased with funds provided by the 1998 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "Bandolier bag" (c. 1820), purchased with funds provided by the 2000 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "L'Etude" (1786) Sèvres, Simon-Louis Boizot, purchased with funds provided by the 2001 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "Jades" Chinese, purchased with funds provided by the 2002 Museum Dinner and Ball.
• "Musée du Louvre II" (1989) Thomas Struth, purchased with funds provided by the 2003 Museum Dinner and Ball.

References

• Trechsel, Gail Andrews (2004) The Art of Giving. Birmingham: Birmingham Museum of Art/Southern Progress Corporation. ISBN 0848730003