When the 54th Carnegie International opened last Friday, the festivities served as a reunion for 57 people whose generosity funded nearly one quarter of the exhibit's cost.

	John Heller, Post-Gazette At the Carnegie International's opening gala Friday, a cocktail hour was set up in the museum's lobby. The International runs through March 20. Click photo for larger image. Related articles: Carnegie International Gala Performance artists go live for opening of Carnegie International Cartoon artist tries to maintain outsider status as art world embraces him

Known as Friends of the 2004 Carnegie International, these 57 affluent donors contributed more than $700,000 to the $3 million exhibit once it became clear that no single local corporation would serve as lead sponsor. Lead sponsors usually make a major contribution ranging from $500,000 to $1 million. Forty of the 57 individuals -- or 20 out of 25 couples -- gave at least $10,000, and some much more.

"The Friends have become the corporate sponsor," said Richard Armstrong, H. J. Heinz II curator at the Carnegie Museum of Art.

Milton Fine, a hotel executive from Fox Chapel, was among the leaders of the group, whose members are so fascinated by contemporary art that they occasionally travel the world together to collect and appreciate it.

"It is sort of a fraternity. You do tend to meet other people around the world who share that interest. There's a great bond between all of us," Fine said.

Only 25 of the 57 donors live in Western Pennsylvania; 24 make their homes in or around New York City or in California, and nine live in England or elsewhere in Europe.

Founding this fraternity was necessary because, for the first time in the exhibit's recent history, no local corporation could be persuaded to serve as lead sponsor. In past years, corporations such as USX, Mellon Bank, Alcoa, PNC, Bayer and The Hillman Co. played that role. While the Henry L. Hillman Fund provided "major support" -- which means it gave more than $100,000 -- none of the other corporations in that lineup contributed this time around.

Foundations that promote contemporary art, such as The Broad Art Foundation in California, did contribute. So did The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in New York, which gave $100,000 in 2003 to the International.

"We think it's an extremely important [exhibition] -- one with a very strong curatorial effort," said Joel Wachs, executive director of The Andy Warhol Foundation.

Another donor was The Woodmere Foundation, set up by Robert B. Knutson, chairman and chief executive officer of Downtown Pittsburgh's Education Management Corp. The company enrolls more than 39,000 students in post-secondary schools, including the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Knutson and his wife, Miryam, also joined the circle of friends.

Armstrong would not say who was the next largest donor after the Friends of the 2004 Carnegie International.

The $3 million budget for this year's International represented a reduction from the $3.2 million budget for the 1999 show, Armstrong said, but that was only partially due to the difficulty of raising funds.

"We planned better and thus had fewer last-minute costs," he said.

About $100,000 of the budget went for travel by the exhibition's curator, Laura Hoptman.

The familiar and not-so-familiar

Some of the Friends' names will sound familiar to Pittsburghers. They include Teri and Damian Soffer, Lea Simonds, Suzy and Jim Broadhurst, Ann and Marty McGuinn, Elsie and Henry Hillman, Edith and James Fisher, Marcia and Stanley Gumberg, Ellen and James Walton, Nancy and Milton Washington, Gisela and Konrad M. Weis and Idamae and James Rich.

Others, such as the Baroness Marion Lambert of Geneva, Switzerland, are better known to art devotees as substantial collectors of contemporary art.

James-Keith Brown and Eric Diefenbach of New York City helped create the photographic collection at the Guggenheim Museum. Wendy Mackenzie, who lives in Manhattan, is known to Pittsburghers as the daughter of Drue Heinz, who endowed the local lecture series.

One of the donors recently commissioned a major work for her alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University. Jill Kraus, a CMU trustee, and her husband, Peter, a hedge fund manager, are paying for construction of Kraus Campo, a garden that blends art and landscape design.

"Richard [Armstrong] and Laura [Hoptman] came and talked to me and asked me if I would consider helping them to put together a more international group of collectors," she said.

Two of the Swiss donors who came for last week's opening, Kraus said, were impressed by the city and saw many similarities between Basel and Pittsburgh -- industrial roots, beautiful rivers and excellent museums.

The Carnegie International began with the private philanthropy and vision of one man. When Andrew Carnegie started the art exhibit in 1896, the museum that bears his name had no endowment, and he usually gave $50,000 to fund the special art exhibit each year, Armstrong said.

Carnegie wanted curators to choose future old masters, not the classics of yesteryear. There is more than a bit of irony in how the exhibition has changed.

"Andrew Mellon would not necessarily have been empathetic to contemporary art," Armstrong said. Mellon, whose endowment helps fund the International, left his extensive art collection to the federal government along with the funds to create the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

The show evolved from an annual exhibit to one usually held every three years. Each time the Carnegie's staff plans an International, it starts off with $350,000 in hand. That's because in 1980, Adolph W. Schmidt, who was related to Mellon's son, Paul, by marriage, assisted in redirecting the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust Fund. Schmidt was also a trustee and officer of the fund.

"An earlier trust expired and Mr. Schmidt worked with Paul Mellon, who could redirect its assets. Half the money was dedicated to an endowment for the International and generates $350,000 each year," Armstrong said.

The other half was set aside for acquiring paintings for the Carnegie's permanent collection.

Courting corporations

Fund raising for this year's International began even before Hoptman was chosen as curator. Formerly assistant curator in the Department of Drawings at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, Hoptman traveled the world for three years to find the best in contemporary art. Armstrong chose her after interviewing seven candidates.

Armstrong said International officials began to realize in 2001 and 2002 that there would be no major corporate sponsor for this year's exhibition.

"We made a stab at finding a national donor," he said, noting that he made fruitless trips to New York City and Europe to that end. "There were many letters and unanswered phone calls. Most people say no by not returning a call."

For previous Internationals, lead corporate sponsors were Alcoa in 1982, USX in 1985, The Hillman Co. in 1988, Bayer in 1991, PNC in 1995, and Mellon in 1999.

"When we took on the role of lead sponsor in 1999 it was with the understanding that other corporations and individuals would be approached for future sponsorships," said Ken Herz, a spokesman for Mellon Financial Corp.

As lead sponsor of the Carnegie International in 1991, Bayer gave $500,000, according to Rebecca Lucore, executive director of The Bayer Foundation. While the foundation still supports local arts initiatives, Lucore said its focus has shifted to science education and workforce development.

A major drop in stock market earnings also has affected corporate foundations.

"The market conditions the last few years have really drained our endowments," Lucore said. "Foundations, especially the corporate ones, are not doing huge things like that just because we can't."

Donor 'indoctrination'

Courting the Friends of the 2004 Carnegie International consumed a chunk of Armstrong's time, but he is clearly comfortable wooing art patrons. A tall, blue-eyed man dressed in a blue suit and an aubergine Hermes tie, Armstrong is authoritative, charming and smoother than freshly whipped cream.

"Donors? They self-nominate," he joked during a recent interview in his neat, light-filled office, where a triptych by Philip Pearlstein, one of Andy Warhol's buddies, dominates a wall.

What Armstrong calls "indoctrination" of the donors started a year ago this month, when about a dozen of the couples gathered at the Carnegie in Oakland for a weekend symposium. Former curators of the prestigious International exhibit discussed the show's merits and drawbacks.

That same weekend, donors attended a dinner at The Andy Warhol Museum. The next night, in the crisp fall weather, donors dined beside a blazing fire in the main room of Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright's summer house cantilevered over a waterfall for Edgar Kaufmann Jr. Lots of good French wine was served.

In June, the couples traveled to see a contemporary art exhibit in Basel, Switzerland, where they heard a lecture by Hoptman at the Schaulager, a new exhibit and storage space supported by art collector Emanuel Hoffmann.

Then it was on to the Beyeler Foundation and Museum in Basel for drinks and dinner. Ernst Beyeler, an art dealer, sold part of the art collection of G. David Thompson, a steel executive who collected Monet, Picasso, Paul Klee, Alberto Giacometti and German Expressionism. Thompson lived in Pittsburgh in the late 1950s and '60s.

Finally, there was a tour of Zurich's art galleries and dinner with fellow donor Maja Hoffmann, who belongs to the Hoffmann-LaRoche family of pharmaceutical fame and is a relative of Emanuel Hoffmann.

Fine, one of the group's leaders, believes it is important to continue the International.

"It's really a franchise that Pittsburgh has. So many other cities would be delighted to have something with this significance, this longevity, this credibility.

"We are trying very hard to make Pittsburgh a city that will attract people and attract business. The International is already here and it does those things. It enhances the reputation of the city enormously," Fine said.