Something for the kiddos, a luncheon for sartorialists, and a pastoral evening soirée. Such was the bustling weekend at the former home of the First Lady of Texas, Ima Hogg, concluding on April 14 with the 2024 Bayou Bend Garden Party, themed “Moonlight Sonata.”

For the musically inclined, the famed Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor made a cameo courtesy of the live band led by Anthony Caceres.

Think of cordial chitchat over bubbles as the well-heeled old guard of Houston’s social scene relished in a lovely open-air setting in the Diana Garden at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston home to its American decorative arts collection in River Oaks.

Chairs Susie and Mel Glasscock and Shelli and Steve Lindley greeted the 250-some celebrants as close-knit friends. Ima Hogg, whose portrait hangs upon the back entry to the manse from the garden, would have approved.

Photo by Jenny Antill Clifton

Chairs Steve and Shelli Lindley with Jenna Lindley.

MFAH director Gary Tinterow framed the evening meaningfully as he paid respects to the museum’s centennial and the many women who made such a milestone a reality. Like blossoming from one acre near the intersection of Main Street and Montrose Boulevard in 1924 to 14 acres and a dynamic cultural campus that embraces three gallery buildings, a sculpture garden, a visitors center, a gift shop, a library, restaurants, coffee shops, two art schools, two movie theaters, and two house museums. Like the expansion from a collection of 60 to 70,000 meritorious holdings. Like maturing from a team of 60 volunteers to a professional staff of more than 600. Like being a destination that flourished from attracting a few hundred visitors to more than one million.

“Women were at the forefront,” Tinterow said. According to the art historian and curator, generous contributors such as Ima Hogg, Audrey Jones Beck, Caroline Wiess Law, and the Weingarten and Sakowitz families, among many others, are the reason MFAH is among the 10 largest art museums in the country. Men did contribute—let’s not forget Jesse H. Jones and Hugh Roy Cullen, of course.

Tinterow used the affair to present incoming Bayou Bend director Daniel Kurt Ackermann to his new Houston family. Ackermann—taking the reins from director Bonnie Campbell’s 20-year tenure—arrived from the Old Salem Museums and Gardens and the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts in Winston-Salem, N.C.

With the support of Lugano Diamonds as principal underwriters, the event added $540,000 to support Bayou Bend’s operating budget. Décor by The Events Co. and a satisfying menu by City Kitchen rounded out the relaxed gathering.

Among the affable group were Whitney and Jim Crane, Michelle and Frank Hevrdejs, Anne Duncan, Sharyn and Jim Weaver, Krissi and Taylor Reid, Polly and Murry Bowden, Debbie and David Dacus, Marc Tabolsky, Carey Kirkpatrick, Kari Dagley, Moti Ferder, Josh Gaynor, Cecily Horton, Stuart Winston, Denise Wynne, Colleen and John Kotts, Cynthia and Anthony Petrello, Nancy and Rich Kinder, Lynne and Joe Hudson, Laura and Keefer Lehner, Alexandra and Jeffrey Butt, Susie and Skip McGee, Nancy and Butch Abendshein, Lisa and Downing Mears, Lisa and Ralph Eads, Ric and Maureen Campo, Jenna Lindley, and Matthew Lindley.