This spring in San Francisco, the charitable, cultural, and social events seemed to go on nonstop.
The Legion of Honor Museum
After all my friends raved about “Pulp Fashion,” the Isabelle de Borchgrave show at the Palace of the Legion of Honor Museum, I couldn’t wait to see it.
Denise Hale and I got lucky: Couture collector Tatiana Sorokko volunteered to take us on a tour. “I know every dress in detail,” she said. And she did.
A former Parisian top model, Tatiana had a show of her couture collection at the Phoenix Art museum called Extending the Runway: Tatiana Sorokko Style. She is also a contributing editor at Harper’s Bazaar.
The show was the first U.S. overview of de Borchgrave’s oeuvre. The talented Belgian artist works in paper, crafting three-dimensional masterpieces.
“My work is a confluence of influences—paper, painting, sculptor, textiles, costume, illusion and trompe l’oeil,” she says.
Many of her creations were clearly inspired by iconic European paintings such as Botticelli’s Primavera. Others suggest the sumptuous fabrics, elaborate trim and ornate jewels worn by historical figures including the Medicis, Elizabeth I, Madame de Pompadour, Empress Eugénie, and Marie Antoinette.
Her work is so tactile it invites a response. “I’ve never wanted to touch something so much in my life,” said Denise, but the guard was watching.
Serge Sorokko Gallery Opening
After thirty years, Serge Sorokko moved his eponymous gallery to a new and larger space at 55 Geary Street, with Isabelle de Borchgrave’s “Recent Paintings and Sculptures” as his inaugural show. What a coup!
“I commissioned her show after I saw her work in Venice at the Museo Fortuny,” said Sorokko, who convinced the artist to come to our city concurrent with her show at the Legion of Honor Museum.
It was his wife Tatiana—fashion expert—who gave Denise and me our wonderful tour of the Museum exhibit. She told us that she was stunned when she first learned that de Borchgrave had exhibited only at museums and had never sold work through a gallery.
On display at the gallery were colorful objets d’art the artist had created out of intricately manipulated paper. “I’d never seen anything like what she does,” Serge said. “And in these dire times, it’s nice to look at happy colors.”
The majority of pieces had been snapped up by local fashionistas by the end of the opening night.
Friends, artists, collectors stopped by to celebrate, meet the artist, and sip Casa Dragones Tequila, so smooth that it’s been dubbed “the sipping tequila.” The company was co-founded by Bertha Gonzalez Nieves and Bob Pitman, a founder of MTV.
So many toasts were made that at one point Tatiana exclaimed, “This is turning into a Russian party!”
A Private Dinner Honoring the Artist
Afterwards, friends and I rushed off to a private dinner party in honor of de Borchgrave in SoMa (South of Market), the San Francisco equivalent of Manhattan’s SoHo.
As it was St. Patrick’s Day, we passed seven police cars giving sobriety tests to people about to cross the bridge. My driver—who will remain unnamed—sighed, “ I wish they’d stopped me tonight. For once, I didn’t have a single drink!”
The party was held at the loft of designer Ken Fulk and Kurt Wooten. In their eclectically decorated loft, last year they the much-talked-about blast of a masquerade birthday party for Denise Hale.
Looking around at the huge, three-story loft, Isabella de Borchgrave said, “In my Belgium studio I don’t have such space.” Well, who does?
Seated on banquettes or at the long dining table in the open kitchen, we dined home-style on splendid Italian food. Serge toasted Isabella. “When I saw her work in Venice three years ago I found it ‘glaringly original,'” he said, adding that he was proud to have her show.
It was near midnight when I slipped out, but Denise Hale and Dede Wilsey (President of the Fine Arts Museum) were still in lively conversation with the artist.
