Out & About

The creme de la creme of New York gathered Tuesday night to celebrate the English-language publication of “Gustavo Cisneros: Pioneer” by Pablo Bachelet (Planeta). The book is a glowing biography of Mr. Cisneros, a Venezuelan businessman ranked no. 94 on Forbes magazine’s World’s Richest People list, with an estimated net worth of $4.6 billion.Mr. Cisneros and his wife, Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, are philanthropists and art collectors, and regulars on the New York-Miami social circuit, counting Mercedes Bass, Oscar de la Renta, David Rockefeller, and Barbara Walters as frequent companions. Photographs in the book capture the couple with political, cultural, and social leaders – Zubin Mehta, the pope, Henry Kissinger, President Clinton, Warren Buffet, Celia Cruz, and Nelson Mandela, to name a few.The world seems hungry for a Latin-American success story. The Spanish-language edition, published a year ago, has sold more than 250,000 copies. The English edition has already sold out at Barnes & Noble Union Square and Shakespeare and Company.Mr. Cisneros has globe-trotted for his book parties. In Spain, the event was “very formal, protocol-oriented,” Mr. Cisneros said. “It went on forever.” In Sao Paulo, the party started on time – “the most Swiss-like.” Rio was chaos. In Mexico City, the gathering was in an old part of the city and included many old friends.“Miami was the best,” Mr. Cisneros said. The party was outdoors on the campus of the University of Miami business school.Mr. Cisneros attended each celebration, while his son and two daughters divided them up by continent. The entire family was present in New York for the last party, held at the Museum of Modern Art (Mrs. Cisneros is on the board of the museum, and a gallery bears their name.)“This is the grandest,” Mr. Cisneros said.Guests included the director of El Museo del Barrio, Julian Zugazagoitia; Peruvian artist Yoico Maker (whose work is now on view at the Yeshiva University Museum); two former presidents of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; architect Richard Meier; John Richardson; botanical artist Doris Downes and Robert Hughes; Patricia Altschul; Pepe and Emilia Fanjul, Philippe de Montebello; James Niven, and John Whitehead. Glenn Lowry, Richard Parsons, and Ms. Walters joined Mrs. Cisneros as hosts.The next big social event hosted by the Cisneros family in New York will be the wedding of their daughter Adriana in May.***On the eve of Valentine’s Day, Jdate’s Web site crashed, sending some New York singles into a panic – but not the 300 who attended the Grammy-viewing bash hosted by the Young Entertainment, Media, and Communications Division of United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York.Dressed in their best flirting attire, guests packed into the club Blvd, paying little attention to the Grammys and lots to one another.Siblings Dov Barnett, a furniture designer, and Franya Barnett, a lawyer, posed for a photograph together, then made sure to note that the two have the same last name, but are not married.

Out & About

Out & About

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