‘Here’s a sampling of upcoming events and exhibits for the 2023-24 season in Palm Beach and vicinity focusing on topics related to the home and garden. Please call ahead to confirm dates, admission prices, ticket availability and any health protocols.
HOLIDAY EVENTS AT WHITEHALL
Christmas Tree-lighting at Whitehall, noon-5 p.m. Dec. 3, Flagler Museum, Cocoanut Row and Whitehall Way. Listen to brief performances on an original 1,249-pipe organ, a 1902 Steinway art-case grand piano and a choir. The afternoon includes the lighting of a 16-foot tree in the Grand Hall, refreshments and a visit from Santa Claus. Activities are free with museum admission: $26, adults; $13, ages 6-12; free, ages 5 and younger. Information: 561-655-2833 or FlaglerMuseum.us.
Annual Christmas Lecture at Whitehall: “The Man who Invented Christmas,” 2:30 p.m. Dec. 3, Flagler Museum, Cocoanut Row and Whitehall Way. Author author Les Standiford will discuss his book, “The Man Who Invented Christmas,” about how Charles Dickens saved his career as an author and created enduring Christmas traditions. Lecture admission is $10, which includes the museum’s Christmas Tree-lighting celebration, and is in addition to the regular admission to the museum: $26, adults; $13, ages 6-12; free, ages 5 and younger. Information: 561-655-2833 or FlaglerMuseum.us.
Holiday Evening Tours at Whitehall, Dec. 19-23, Flagler Museum, Cocoanut Row and Whitehall Way. A series of docent-led tours showcasing the holiday decorations and period lighting at the museum will begin at 6 p.m., 6:15 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. each night. Carolers in period costumes will perform in the Cocoanut Grove, and each guest will receive a traditional Christmas cracker as a parting gift. Admission: $50, adults; $30, ages 17 and younger. Information: 561-655-2833, ext. 27, or FlaglerMuseum.us.
EXHIBITIONS
Bicycles: Technology that Changed the World, 10 a.m.-5 pm., Tues.-Sat.; noon-5 p.m. Sun. (closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Day), through Dec. 17, Flagler Museum, Cocoanut Row and Whitehall Way. Bicycles emerged during the Gilded Age as a revolutionary means of transportation and leisure, allowing individuals to move freely and easily, without the burden and expenses associated with acquiring and maintaining horse and carriage. The exhition highlights the development and evolution of the bicycle and the profound impact bicycles had on American society and culture. Entrance to the exhibition is free with museum ticket purchase. Admission: $26, adults; $13, ages 6-12; free, ages 5 and younger. Information: 561-655-2833, ext. 27, or FlaglerMuseum.us.
Addison Mizner: Letters & Manuscripts, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays, through Feb. 2, Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach, 311 Peruvian Ave. It focuses on the legacy of Addison Mizner, the visionary architect who shaped the architectural landscape of Palm Beach beginning in 1918. Mounted by the Preservation Foundation, the exhibition draws upon the organization’s archival collections of personal journals and letters that follow Mizner’s flamboyant and adventurous life, from his time in Alaska to his illustrious career in Palm Beach. Admission: Free. Information: 561-832-0731, ext. 104; or PalmBeachPreservation.org.
Alphonse Mucha: Master of Art Nouveau, 10 a.m.-5 pm., Tues.-Sat.; noon-5 p.m. Sun., Jan. 16 through April 14, Flagler Museum, Cocoanut Row and Whitehall Way. Working in late 19th-century Paris, artist Alphonse Mucha celebrated the emerging Art Nouveau movement, with its sinuous lines, organic forms and intricate designs. His subject matter included nature, mythology and the female form. Entrance to the exhibition is free with museum ticket purchase. Admission: $26, adults; $13, ages 6-12; free, ages 5 and younger. Information: 561-655-2833, ext. 27, or FlaglerMuseum.us.
Palm Beach Style: The Architecture and Advocacy of John and Jane Volk, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays, Feb. 12 through May 3, Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach, 311 Peruvian Ave. This exhibition explores the story of the late Palm Beach architect John Volk and and his late wife, artist and preservationist Jane Volk. Based on a new book, Palm Beach Style, about John Volk by historian and preservationist Jane S. Day, the exhibition will offer insight into the couple’s architectural passion and community advocacy. Admission: Free. Information: 561-832-0731, ext. 104; or PalmBeachPreservation.org.
ENTERTAINING, FOOD, WINE
Palm Beach Food & Wine Festival, Dec. 7-10. The massive festival includes a wide range of events, cooking demonstrations and more at a variety of restaurants in Palm Beach and vicinity, many featuring celebrity chefs. Several ticket packages are still available. Ticket information: 800-210-0689 or PBFoodWineFest.com.
ANTIQUES, ART, JEWELRY AND CRAFTS SHOWS
The Palm Beach Show: Jewelry, Art, Antiques, Design, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Feb. 16-20; evening opening preview parties Feb. 15 (special tickets required), Palm Beach County Convention Center, 650 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. Show and sale features international exhibitors presenting jewelry, art and antiques in a wide range of prices. A schedule of lectures and panel discussions is available online, with the programs included with admission. Admission: $30, available online and valid all days; other premium tickets are available. Information: 561-822-5440 or PalmBeachShow.com
Palm Beach Fine Craft Show, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Feb. 16-18, Palm Beach County Convention Center, 650 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. Show and sale features artists presenting works in ceramics, glass, fiber (decorative and wearable art), wood, furniture, metalwork and jewelry. Admission: $30, available online and valid all days. Information: 561-822-5440 or PalmBeachFineCraft.com
The Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary Art Fair, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. March 22-23; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. March 24; opening preview party 5-9 p.m. March 21 (special ticket required), Palm Beach County Convention Center, 650 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. Presented by Art Miami, the fair will coincide with the Palm Beach International Boat Show and feature vendors offering “investment-quality” works from the 20th and 21st centuries. The Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens in West Palm Beach will serve as a satellite venue, featuring a Garden Exhibition of works by four artists; a free trolley will run between the fair and the sculpture garden 10 a.m.-4 p.m. March 22-23. Admission prices and information: 305-517-7972 or visit ArtPBFair.com
ARCHITECTURE, INTERIORS, ART, PRESERVATION
What’s Your Style? Stylish Interiors for Modern Living, with Stewart Manger, 3 p.m. Jan. 8, The Society of the Four Arts’ Dixon Education Building, 240 Cocoanut Row. Interior designer Manger will discuss interior design with a focus on his use of local workrooms, artists, craftsmen and auction houses. He will also touch on how he, as an American designer, works in London, Paris, Scotland, Mallorca and New York. Manger will sign copies of his recent book, “Romancing the Home: Stylish Interiors for a Modern Lifestyle,” written with Galerie’s Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline Terrebone (Rizzoli, 2022). Admission: $20. Information: 561-655-7226 or FourArts.org.
Don’t Forget to Call Your Mother: Reflections on the Photographs Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, with Lisa Sutcliffe, 11 a.m. Jan. 17, The Society of the Four Arts’ Dixon Education Building, 240 Cocoanut Row. Sutcliffe, the museum’s newest curator, will discuss a selection of works from her first exhibition at the institution, which began collecting photographs in 1928 and now has 75,000 works, spanning the history of photography from its 1830s invention to the present. Admission: $20. Information: 561-655-7226 or FourArts.org.
Titian, The Later Works, a master class with Philip Rylands, 3 p.m. Jan. 22, The Society of the Four Arts’ Dixon Education Building, 240 Cocoanut Row. The program will focus on Titian, the greatest painter of the Venetian High Renaissance. His later career, from 1530 onward, established him not only as the premier painter of the Venetian school but the most celebrated and successful artist in Europe, counting among his patrons Pope Paul III (Farnese), Emperor Charles V and King Philip II of Spain. Rylands is the president and CEO of The Society of the Four Arts. Admission: $25. Information: 561-655-7226 or FourArts.org
“Three Lindens” at the Peter Marino Art Foundation, with Priscilla Rattazzi, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 25, The Society of the Four Arts’ Dixon Education Building, 240 Cocoanut Row. Rattazzi will discuss her book, “Three Lindens,” which features photographs she took over three decades of three ancient linden trees that stood watch over her family home in East Hampton, New York. Photographs from the book were featured in an exhibition at the Peter Marino Art Foundation in Southampton, New York. Rattazzi describes the book as a story about dislocation, profound love of nature, self-awareness and resilience. A book-signing will follow her talk. Admission: $20. Information: 561-655-7226 or FourArts.org.
Contemporary Art: The Heritage of the Future, with Lord Burlington, 3 p.m. Feb. 5, The Society of the Four Arts’ Dixon Education Building, 240 Cocoanut Row. Lord Burlington will discuss his family’s passion for collecting that spans 16 generations. His family home in Derbyshire, Chatsworth, England, houses one of Europe’s more significant art collections still in private hands. Burlington will introduce the collection and reflect on contemporary art through the lens of time. Burlington is chairman of the Devonshire Group and the Council of Management of the Chatsworth House Trust. Admission: $20. Information: 561-655-7226 or FourArts.org.
Art’s Bad Boys, with Marlene Strauss, 3 p.m. Feb. 14, The Society of the Four Arts’ Gubelmann Auditorium, 100 Four Arts Plaza. In an illustrated talk, Strauss will discuss so-called “Bad Boy” artists, including Courbet, Gauguin, Duchamp, Man Ray, Matisse, Warhol, Koons, Modigliani, Manet, Van Gogh, Benvenuto Cellini and Picasso. Strauss returns to the Four Art as an in-demand speaker who has lectured annually at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the 21st Century Club in Cleveland, among many other venues. Admission: $20 Information: 561-655-7226 or FourArts.org.
Andrea Palladio, a master class with Philip Rylands, 3 p.m. Feb. 15, The Society of the Four Arts’ Gubelmann Auditorium, 100 Four Arts Plaza. Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) is widely regarded as the most influential architect who has ever lived. His buildings influenced Russian Palaces, Georgian country Houses in Britain, plantation houses in the American South and Italian baroque churches. Rylands’ lecture will survey Palladio villas (in the Veneto), his palaces (in Vicenza) and his churches (in Venice) as well as two elusive palaces on the Grand Canal that were never built. Rylands is the president and CEO of The Society of the Four Arts. Admission: $25 Information: 561-655-7226 or FourArts.org.
House & Garden Day, sponsored by The Garden Club of Palm Beach, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., March 3, The Society of the Four Arts’ Mall in front of the Gubelmann Auditorium, 100 Four Arts Plaza. The event includes a free outdoor boutique with local vendors selling items for the home and garden along with apparel and other products. Tickets for tours of several Palm Beach homes must be purchased in advance, with shuttle bus service available to and from The Four Arts 11 a.m.-4 p.m. For tour ticket information and prices, visit gardenclubpalmbeach.com, email gcpalm@gmail.com or call 561-837-6635.
Commissions in Art, with Nancy Lorenz, 3 p.m. March 6, The Society of the Four Arts’ Dixon Education Building, 240 Cocoanut Row. Visual artist Lorenz will discuss the ins and outs of commissions of art — a subject that can be a hot topic in art and investment circles. A John Simon Guggenheim fellow, Lorenz lives and works in New York City and her work has been exhibited at numerous museums and galleries. Admission: $20. Information: 561-655-7226 or FourArts.org.
Donatello Due, Master of the Renaissance, in our Era, a master class with Giuliana Castellani Koch, 3 p.m., March 13, The Society of the Four Arts’ Dixon Education Building, 240 Cocoanut Row. Koch will discuss the Florentine master’s body of work, which continues to influence artists today through their own interpretation of humanistic motives. Koch will highlight art by sculptors who benefited from Donatello’s legacy and credited the master for their own inspiration, technical skills and passion for details. With a family dating back to 14th-century Florence, Koch holds a doctorate from the University of Florence in contemporary Italian and comparative literature. Admission: $25. Information: 561-655-7226 or FourArts.org.
American Everyman: Winslow Homer, with Bill Cross, 3 p.m. April 8, The Society of the Four Arts’ Dixon Education Building, 240 Cocoanut Row. Biographer William “Bill” R. Cross specializes in telling stories about Americans whose works are known but whose lives are not. In 2019, he curated “Homer at the Beach, A Marine Painter’s Journey, 1869-1880,” a nationally acclaimed exhibition at the Cape Ann Museum in Glouchester, Massachusetts, which explored Homer’s formation as a marine artist. In his 2022 book “Winslow Homer: American Passage,” Cross looked at his subject’s surprising role as the visual counterpart to American literary figures such as Walt Whitman and Mark Twain. Admission: $20. Information: 561-655-7226 or FourArts.org.
Blenheim and Decorating, with Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill, 3 p.m., April 22, The Society of the Four Arts’ Gubelmann Auditorium, 100 Four Arts Plaza. A frequent visitor to Palm Beach, Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill is the eldest daughter of the 11th Duke of Marlborough whose family home is Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, notably the birthplace and ancestral home of Sir Winston Churchill. Following the palace’s completion, it became the home of the Churchill — later known as the Spencer-Churchill — family for the next 300 years, and various members of the family have wrought changes to the interiors, park and gardens. The speaker is also the founder of Spencer-Churchill Designs, an internationally successful producer of furniture, fabrics and wallpapers. Admission: $20 Information: 561-655-7226 or FourArts.org.
LANDSCAPES, FLOWERS, GARDENING
Flowers: From Paint Brush to Camera Lens, a conversation with Beyer Artist-in-Residence Robert Walker and William A. Ewing, 3 p.m. Jan. 24, The Society of the Four Arts’ Dixon Education Building, 240 Cocoanut Row. Drawing on his 50 years of work in the field of photography, Ewing — an author, professor, curator and museum director — will discuss with noted photographer Walker how Walker’s practice evolved from photographing dense cityscapes, influenced by Pop Art painters such as Rauschenberg and Rosenquist, to an engagement with nature by photographing flowers, work influenced by abstract ”Color-field” painters. Admission: Free; reservations required. Information: 561-655-7226 or FourArts.org.
Living Floral, with Margot Shaw, founder and editor-in-chief of Flower Magazine, 3 p.m. Feb. 8, The Society of the Four Arts’ Gubelmann Auditorium, 100 Four Arts Plaza. For the Garden Club of Palm Beach’s annual open-to-the-public lecture, flower expert Shaw will present what is described as an inspirational and instructive look into the worlds of top tastemakers; interior, floral and event designers; and gardeners and architects, who share their joy of flowers at home, adding natural flair when they entertain and when they decorate. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Shaw studied art history at Hollins College and interior design at the University of Texas. Her most recent book, “Living Floral,” published by Rizzoli, is in its fifth printing. Admission: Free. Information: 561-805-8562 or FourArts.org; or at gardenclubpalmbeach.com, via email at gcpalm@gmail.com or by phone at 561-837-6635.
The Rakes’ Progress: Where Did Fifty Years Go?, with Mikel Folcarelli and John Gwynne, presented in partnership with the Garden Club of Palm Beach, 3 p.m. March 14, The Society of the Four Arts’ Dixon Education Building, 240 Cocoanut Row. The program will spotlight Sakonnet Garden in coastal Rhode Island, which for 50 years has tested the limits of what’s possible to grow in the Northeast, from Himalayan Blue Poppies to camellias and fancier rhododendrons and even palms. Folcarelli serves on multiple local boards and commissions and welcomes thousands of visitors yearly to Sakonnet Garden. John Gwynne, former head of design for the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo, today focuses on new experiments at Sakonnet Garden. Admission: $20. Information: 561-655-7226 or FourArts.org.
An Introduction to Italian Gardens, with Emmanuel Ducamp, 3 p.m., April 11, The Society of the Four Arts’ Dixon Education Building, 240 Cocoanut Row. Ducamp’s lecture will begin with a look at Roman gardens depicted on refined frescoes from Pompei and Villa di Livia, move on to examples of Italian gardens from the Middle Ages and conclude with elements of Renaissance gardens, which have been influential throughout Europe. Ducamp is an art historian and lawyer by training who started his career as a specialist of French decorative arts. Admission: $20. Information: 561-655-7226 or FourArts.org.
WORKSHOPS, CLASSES
Shell Chic, 10 a.m. Dec. 14 (“8×10 Frames”); Feb.15 (“Sailors’ Valentine Boxes”; March 21 (“Greek Goddess Bust”) and April 11 (“Bookends”), The Society of the Four Arts’ Dixon Education Building, 240 Cocoanut Row. Palm Beach native Robin Grubman will teach participants the craft of making items with shells. Admission: $255 per class in December and February; $185 per class in March and April. All materials included. Information: 561-655-7226 or FourArts.org.
Plein Air Painting with Elle Foley, a six-class workshop, 2-4:30 p.m. Jan. 10, Jan. 14, Feb.7, Feb. 14, March 13 and March 27, The Society of the Four Arts’ Philip Hulitar Sculpture Garden and Four Arts Botanical Gardens. Foley will teach techniques for creating light-filled paintings with a limited palette. She holds a degree in fine arts from the Maryland Institute’s College of Art and a degree in architecture from the Boston Architectural Center. She worked as an architect in New York City and painted with Frank Mason at the Art Students League. Admission: $450 (includes all classes). Information: 561-655-7226 or FourArts.org.
Color-fields: A Painterly Approach to Photographing Flowers, a four-session workshop with Beyer Artist-in-Residence Robert Walker, a four-class workshop, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Jan. 29, Jan. 31, Feb. 2 and Feb. 5, The Society of the Four Arts’ Dixon Education Building, 240 Cocoanut Row. Photographer Walker’s workshops will offer innovative techniques for photographing plants and flowers. Participants should bring an analog or digital camera. Admission: $425 (includes all classes). Information: 561-655-7226 or FourArts.org.
— Compiled by Darrell Hofheinz
