The New York Academy of Art is a graduate school that is unrivalled in the way it delivers education. It combines intensive technical training that is essential in all artists, while balancing alongside that critical discourse, allowing students to have an intellectual edge over their contemporaries. It is at the forefront of artistic tuition.
One of the ways in which the not-for-profit academy continues to invest in a high quality academic and creative environment is through its brilliant and longstanding Take Home a Nude event.
Now in its 21st year, the auction and soiree has become an important cultural fixture in the city, attended by celebrities, politicians and leaders in the art world. This is the third year it will be held at Sotheby’s.
“The elite of New York are always in attendance – it’s a pretty big event,” comments Stephen McHugh, business development manager for Cadogan Tate in New York. “They usually raise over a million dollars from this event for the school every year.”
That cash is generated in four ways – dinner tables, dinner tickets, cocktails and from the sale of works of art by students and established artists (Jeff Koons, Nan Goldin and Sante D’Orazio kindly donated works last year).
A fellowship table costs $50,000 (approximately £31,550), two dinner tickets are priced at $2,000 (£1,246) and two cocktail tickets are charged at $500 (£311). Needless to say, this is serious money, but for the 800 plus people that attend it is worth parting with. The academy matters.
“It’s a silent auction for the most part, although they usually put around 12 or 15 of the most high profile pieces of art into an actual live sale with one of Sotheby’s auctioneers,” explains Mr McHugh.
“All the money raised goes to the school, with the majority of it going to their scholarship programme. It helps students to pay tuition and for up and coming artists to study at the school.”
Cadogan Tate, which has sponsored the event for the last five years, handles all of the work that is being auctioned off. In total, the fine art handlers consolidate around 150 to 200 items way ahead of the evening, wrap them up and safely transport them to the venue.
In addition to setting them up for the guests to gauge what appeals to them, Cadogan Tate’s art handlers are as ready as ever to expertly handle the works as they are sold off. Bidding does get competitive and this year should prove no different, with guests able to contest one another for works by Inka Essenhigh, Ryan McGinness, Yoko Ono, Donald Sultan and Spencer Tunick.
This year’s event will also honour the Italian artist Francesco Clemente, a contemporary artist who is best known for his watercolours and oil paintings, which are often full of mysterious symbolism and playful imagery. Last year saw him become the first living artist in the modern era to deliver a solo exhibition at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Take Home a Nude takes place at Sotheby’s on October 18th 2012.
For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit www.nyaa.edu/nude
Cadogan Tate is one of the most respected fine art transport companies in the world, specialising in shipping artwork in a safe and secure way.