”I`ve never met anyone who isn`t crazy about the School of the Art Institute,” says Shirley Kravitt, explaining how she got Victor Skrebneski to promise to exhibit some never-before-published pictures at a party next summer that will launch a brand-new gallery in the school and, she hopes, raise $150,000 for her favorite insitution of learning.
Kravitt, a successful artist and an equally successful fundraiser and benefit-planner/goer/supporter, chaired the school`s first alumni reunion in 1985. Ever since, she`s been intent on forming a board to raise money for the school. After two persistent years, she got school officials to agree to her idea for a board, then worked hard at founding one (”I didn`t want to take people away from different boards”) and finally set out to launch her baby with a stunning fundraiser debut.
Voila! When she remembered that Skrebneski had also studied at the Art Institute`s school, everything jelled. ”He is such an unusual and warm person; I know of no one as artist and human being who deserves the honor more of being the first to show in this gallery.”
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And so, come June 9, the new Betty Rymer Gallery will be the scene of a gala black-tie party. There`ll be dining and dancing in the museum`s Trading Room, which is just a few steps from the gallery.
Skrebneski is planning to show some of his own favorite pictures that will be included in his next book, ”Black, White and Color,” due out next fall.
The gallery showing will probably include 20 to 25 photos, according to Skrebneski, all in black and white. Taken over a period of 40 years-from `49 to `89-some show a photographic side of Skrebneski little known even to his ardent fans.
”Since I first went to Paris, the Eiffel Tower has been a special love of mine,” says Skrebneski. Most likely candidates for the School of the Art Insitute`s showing, he thinks, will be ”Paris at night” photos, such as the one shown here, combined with a number of his newest nudes, ”those that resemble sculptured torsos.”