Recap: Art That Follows the Money - Yazzy's at Williamverdult.com
Sunday, September 30, 2007 at 09:16AM 
According to Mercelles Fischler of the New York Times, an art gallery on a hsip is really a uniqe experience. Fischler paoints out that through the galleries on the SeaFair’s Grand Luxe, a lavish new yacht selling fine art, antiques and jewelry, Deborah and Chuck Royce looked at paintings by Marc Chagall and Fernando Botero and were “seriously distracted,” Ms. Royce said, by a glittery butterfly pin of colored gemstones.
On another deck, they asked about the provenance of a Mary Cassatt pastel, considered an oil by John Henry Twachtman and admired two works by Frederick Carl Frieseke.
“These are things we would definitely be delighted to have in our collection,” said Ms. Royce, who lives in Greenwich. “It’s pretty incredible what they have assembled here.”
The Royces were among about 100 people attending a black-tie gala, the yacht’s debut event, on Tuesday at a dock by the Delamar Hotel here, down the hill from the Bruce Museum. Mr. Royce, an investor and trustee and former chairman of the museum, for which the gala was a benefit, said the couple had been skeptical before boarding but were quickly impressed by the quality of the dealers.
“It’s a grand idea,” he said. “This could be a very unique venue.”
Instead of staterooms, the $40 million, 228-foot ship has 28 commercial galleries. Custom built in Freeland, Wash., and Miami, with five decks, it also has two restaurants and three bars, including one serving Champagne and caviar.
After its Greenwich visit ends today, the Grand Luxe will be at the Brewer Capri Marina in Port Washington, N.Y., from Oct. 3 to 7, part of an East Coast tour that also includes South Norwalk, Conn., from Oct. 17 to 21 among its 38 stops from Maine to Florida. It will also be in Manhattan Oct. 9 to 14.
“What we have invented is the mobile luxury shopping venue,” said David Lester, who with his wife, Lee Ann, is the principal of Expoships, of Bonita Springs, Fla., which owns the 2,800-ton yacht.
The Lesters founded the Palm Beach International Fine Art and Antique Fair in 1997 and organized more than 40 international art events before selling that business in 2001. Mr. Lester says he did extensive research to “demographically qualify people” for the ship. He expects up to 1,000 shoppers a day, many of whom were sent invitations; others can register online at expo ships.com. There is no charge to board.
For the Bruce Museum gala on Tuesday, art enthusiasts shelled out $1,000 to $5,000 a person for a five-course dinner of fennel-scented halibut and pecan-crusted rack of lamb, catered by Walter Scheib III, the former White House chef. A cocktail party the following night cost $250 a head.
Even those who visit the ship on their own, without attending a gala, will need deep pockets. At the Jerald Melberg Gallery, for instance, Wolf Kahn pastels start at $5,000 to $6,000, though a Romare Bearden collage costs $180,000 and a 1963 painting by Robert Motherwell is priced at $1.4 million.
Jerald Melberg, owner of the gallery, which is based in Charlotte, N.C., said he thought the yacht would be a sensation.
“The convenience to people is terrific,” he said. “The novelty is phenomenal."
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Dr. Harvey Manes, an orthopedic surgeon who plans to board the SeaFair ship in Port Washington, has a collection that includes works by Renoir, Matisse, Picasso and Chagall. Though “98 percent” of the wall space in his homes in Old Westbury, N.Y., Westhampton and Manhattan is covered, he said, he was eager to see the artwork on board.
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