With Art Ball held this past Saturday, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at the Art Ball’s origins in the Beaux Arts Ball. The Beaux Arts Ball was first held in 1962 as a fundraising event organized by the Museum League. The Beaux Arts Ball was a lavish, themed costume ball. Here are some of my favorite Beaux Arts Ball themes and costumes from the first 30 years.
Doris Jacoby Photography
(left to right) Actress Greer Garson and Mrs. Royal Miller (Jody) at the 1967 Beaux Arts Ball, “Arabian Nights.”
From the collection of the Texas/Dallas History and Archives Division, Dallas Public Library
DMFA director Merrill Rueppel as the mad hatter for the 1971 Beaux Arts Ball, “The Mad Hatter’s Hoedown.”
Photo by Bob Jackson, Society Publications Inc.
(left to right) Doug and Patty Campbell, Eric Graham, George Lee, Schatzie Lee, and Eleanor Graham at the 1974 Beaux Arts Ball, “An Elizabethan Evening.”
Photo by Andy Hanson
Idelle and Leon Rabin at the 1975 Beaux Arts Ball, “A Deco Dance.”
Photo by Andy Hanson
(left to right) Unidentified, Jo Cleaver, Anne Bromberg, and Alan Bromberg at the 1981 Beaux Arts Ball, “An Evening of Fantasy.”
Photo by Tom Jenkins
Director Richard R. Brettell and Carol Brettell at the 1991 Beaux Arts Ball, “Le Grande Bal Masque des Beaux Arts.”
Photo by Tom Jenkins
An impressive peacock-esque dress at the 1991 Beaux Arts Ball, “Le Grande Bal Masque des Beaux Arts.”
Another bird-themed ensemble at the 1991 Beaux Arts Ball, “Le Grande Bal Masque des Beaux Arts”
Hillary Bober is the Digital Archivist at the Dallas Museum of Art.
