Striking Their Colors : Annual Newport Harbor Gala Will Focus on Black & White

“A masterpiece.” That’s how one guest described a creation on display at the recent opening of the Newport Harbor Art Museum’s new Black and White Exhibition at Fashion Island in Newport Beach.

Only she wasn’t talking about Nathan Oliveira’s “Italian Sentinel,” or Sidney Avery’s “Braceros” or even the street photography of Gary Winogrand. She had her eye on 2 1/2-year-old Laurel Amspoker, whose mom, Ellen Breitman--a museum staff member--had dressed her in a perky black and white ensemble for the occasion.

The party for museum trustees marked the kickoff event for the museum’s Black & White bash at Fashion Island on July 18, an annual dance and food-fest expected to raise $50,000.

The Black and White Exhibition is significant, said museum curator Bruce Guenther, “because it represents some very important pieces in the museum’s collection.”

Take Oliveira’s “Italian Sentinel”: “A very important painting by a Bay Area figurative artist,” Guenther said. “See the little bit of color he has applied to the figure’s face and stomach? It has to do with the the physical and mental planes, focusing on the sources of mind and life.”

And take the 20 black and white ‘60s photographs of voluptuous women by Winogrand: “A collection that is significant because the photographs were taken by an eye uncomplicated by feminism,” Guenther said. “He could appreciate their quirks, individuality, beauty and vulnerability.”

And upper-body full-figuredness. “Yes, but don’t forget, the ‘60s was the era of free love, self-expression and openness. Winogrand relished their unfettered beauty. Now, he would take those pictures as a person more sensitive to the issues of exploitation.”

During the reception, guests sampled appetizers from Five Feet Too restaurant (restaurateur Michael Kang, a museum trustee, and his wife, Renee, are co-chairing the Black & White bash) before stepping into the exhibit room next to the Sweet Life candy shop.

Only one problem. Munching on food, sipping Chardonnay (or even water) near the exhibit was strictly verboten . Guests were to enjoy libations and food al fresco . Period. “Gee, they usually let the trustees do this,” grumbled one wine-toting guest, after being booted out of the exhibit area by a grim hostess.

Joked Guenther: “Well, trustees can be just as clumsy as anybody else.”

Still, it would have been less painful, socially speaking, if party planners had posted signs to let guests know not to take food or drink inside. As it was, the trustees were constantly being chastised and taken away from the art that they, or others like them, have helped acquire.

The party buzz: Word that the American debut of the sculpture of surrealist artist Max Ernst would take place at the museum July 10 through Sept. 6.

The exhibition, created to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Ernst’s birth in 1991, will be a complete review of his three-dimensional works. It includes 80 sculptures in bronze, gold and silver created from the mid-’30s to the mid-’70s.

“In contemporary surrealism, Ernst ranks with Miro, Picasso and Giacometti,” Guenther said. “They were his peers. This will be a unique opportunity for us to recognize and have access to the work of one of the great sculptors of our time.”

A peek at the new Bowers Museum of Cultural Art: About 500 guests got their first peek of the renovated Bowers Museum in Santa Ana on Saturday night when the museum’s annual La Fiesta celebration unfolded with a cocktail reception in the Leo Freedman Foundation Galleria and dinner in its tree-lined courtyard.

“I can’t get over it,” said Phyllis Henderson, who co-chaired the event with Priscilla Selman. “Years ago, this was the lovely place where we took our kids to play when we went shopping! And now, it’s a world-class museum.”

Only a few pieces of the museum’s collections were on display for guests, who enjoyed a silent auction staged in the museum’s new, yet-to-be named restaurant. (Restaurateur David Wilhelm, who catered La Fiesta, said he’ll name his new bistro in two weeks. “I promise.”)

“We chose pieces that are representative of what people will see when the museum officially opens on Oct. 18,” said Patricia House, the museum’s director of development. Near the closed door of the future Ruth Segerstrom Gallery, for example, was a pair of spurs from California’s Colonial period. (Segerstrom has donated $250,000 to the museum.)

Honored at the gala emceed by comedian Jack Carter and television actress Ruta Lee were Bowers boosters Judy Fluor-Runels and Donna Karlen. “I am so pleased and honored to be here,” said Karlen, striking a pose near an orator’s stool from New Guinea. “It’s wonderful to not have been involved in La Fiesta this year and just walk in and be surprised like everyone else.”

Ditto for Fluor-Runels, who, like Karlen, has done her share of staging the museum’s annual celebration. “It’s done! It’s so exciting to finally see it built and be inside,” Fluor-Runels said. “Incredible.”

Of the orator’s stool, museum executive director Peter Keller said: “In New Guinea, if you have a gripe, you stand next to the stool and go on for hours about what your problems are.”

Needless to say, nobody was standing next to the stool on Saturday night.

Another chic meeting place: And you thought “take-out” meant fast food. Think again. The new Il Fornaio Cucina Express in Costa Mesa is offering “slow food” for quick dining-in or taking-out. (“Our cooks cook the food slowly, prepare it with care all day long,” whispered a spokeswoman.)

At the christening of the new restaurant on Saturday night (for members of the Performing Arts Center’s Fraternity and Barrymore support groups), guests got a taste of the kind of Tuscan fare that is happening in a hurry in Italy. Explains Larry Mindell, chairman and CEO of Il Fornaio: “We go to Italy every year to see what’s happening there in food, restaurants, fashion and general style. In the last several years, we have observed an Italian version of quickly served food and that is what we’ve brought to Costa Mesa.”

Guests sat down to a river of Italian wine served up with spit-roasted chicken (a specialty), a variety of Italian salads and breads and desserts.

The great news: The restaurant is open Friday and Saturday until midnight and until 11 p.m. on Sunday.