Annual Meeting
The Annual Meeting was held January 7th, as our first luncheon at The Philadelphia Club, with 34 members attending (30 in-person and 4 on Zoom). Chef Pierre Calmels treated attendees to a gourmet, three course plated meal. Bob Haskell noted that 2021 was a good year, a busy year, and a year of transition. To briefly recap: our finances are solid, despite the rising cost of lunches and luncheon services; the budget for 2022 is balanced and should result in a small surplus at the end of the year, including our usual charitable contribution; with 39 excellent speakers our speaker program is thriving; we had three fine special events: the President’s Dinner, Fall Fling, and Christmas Dinner; and after six pleasant years at the Pyramid Club, we have come to the Philadelphia Club (our thanks to Val Sauri for being our sponsor). We added five new members, and two members resigned. Sadly, we noted the death of Bill Carr. The membership approved all the proposed changes to the Constitution and Bylaws, and the slate of nominees for the 2022 Board of Control:
President Peter Alois
1st VP Paul Laskow
2d VP John Wetzel
3d VP John Weston
4th VP Tom Woods
Recording Secretary Stephen Clowery
Treasurer Tom Williams
Archivist Stephen Bennett
Corresponding Secretary [open]
Immediate Past President Robert Haskell
Members-at-Large Sam Weaver
Terry Champion
Carl Esser
Thomas Kirker
President’s Dinner
The Right Angle Club launched its second century with the annual President’s Dinner on January 14th at The Philadelphia Club. Pete Alois, the new president welcomed Heather Blakeslee and Brian Cunningham, whose election to membership will be confirmed by the Board of Control (BOC) on January 21st. The twenty members and one guest enjoyed the splendid ambiance, the gourmet dinner prepared by executive chef Pierre Calmels and elegantly presented by the charming Charlotte Calmels. Bob Haskell thanked Pete Alois for making these dinner arrangements. Several officers made heartfelt toasts of appreciation. Immediate past-president Robert Haskell thanked the members of the BOC for their support through a difficult year and noted in particularly, Tony Simonetta and Tom Williams who guided the RAC to its new meeting venue, program and dues structure. Pete Alois thanked the members for their trust in electing him to succeed Bob and pointed out that George Fisher who was present had kindly invited him to join the RAC a decade ago. Pete exhorted all who have similarly benefited to “pay it forward” and identify a friends or colleague who might enjoy the RAC as much as they do.
Steve Bennett reported that our archives from 1922 to present are preserved and indexed online at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP). The Club has an organizational membership with the HSP. Any member who wants to see the records can do so. Contact Steve for information on access.
Luncheon Speaker
January 21, 2022. Nancy Moses, award winning author, media producer, former museum director, former visiting scholar at the American University of Rome, and chair of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, discussed her latest book, Fakes, Forgeries, and Frauds. The talk mainly focused on The Polish Rider, a painting in the Frick Collection in New York City, which has been referred to as being only two thirds Rembrandt. Is two thirds Rembrandt enough for it to be counted as authentically Rembrandt? Her answer is yes. The reasons for being considered two thirds Rembrandt are: 1) one-third painted by someone else, 2) never finished (the background is simply a base layer of paint, 3) one-third is missing, because over the course of 350+ years, the painting was packed up and moved several ties, pierced, cut, repaired, relined, aggressively cleaned, and repeatedly revarnished. The two-thirds are neither fake (something that mirrors an original) nor forgery (a copy of an original that purports to be the original). She also talked about Moses Shapira, a Jerusalem antiquities dealer and purveyor of allegedly forged Semitic artifacts, who is believed to have forged ancient biblical texts (the Shapira Strips) found near the Dead Sea. There were 36 attendees.
