AROUND TOWN
Andy’s Muse Andy Warhol and Ina Ginsburg’s unique friendship continues to impact the Washington art scene. BY DONNA SHOR
W
hat Washington woman, who, with pluck and foresight, escaped the terror and destruction of World War II to create an estimable new life here, and while so doing bestowed a legacy to enrich the lives of present and future generations? The answer: Ina Ginsburg. With vision and tireless effort, Ina created programs that have marked some of our most prestigious institutions — and had a grand time doing it. Some of the organizations that felt her impact are the Washington National Opera, the American Film Institute, the Federal Reserve Board and the Kennedy Center — which held a memorable celebration of her life upon her passing two years ago. She would have been 100 years old on October 10 of this year. It wasn’t easy for her to arrive here, in any sense. Viennese-born Ina managed to get a French passport and a Mexican transit visa to reach a Portuguese cargo ship slated for a stop in New York. Then, disaster! The ship was ordered to return its passengers to Europe. Only the intercession of first lady Eleanor Roosevelt finally let them disembark on U.S. soil. Ina supported herself as an actress, appearing with a Baltimore troupe and at Washington’s National Theatre. She returned to Europe after the war, hoping to reclaim family property. There she met David Ginsburg, a Washington lawyer then serving as an official under Gen. Lucius D. Clay Sr., who was in charge of the postwar U.S. occupation. They married, eventually settling in Georgetown, where they raised three children: Jonathan, of Fairfax County, Susan, of Alexandria, and Mark, of Berlin, Germany. The Ginsburgs divorced in 1985; David
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Ina Ginsburg contemplates her portrait by Andy Warhol at the Federal Reserve Board’s art gallery six weeks before her death at the age of 98. (Courtesy of Mark Ginsburg)
Ginsburg died in 2010. Their children grew up in an amazing atmosphere. Their house, handsomely restored under Ina’s watchful eye, was always filled with newsmakers: senators, Supreme Court justices, artists and ambassadors, musicians, Cabinet secretaries, society figures and celebrities — all appreciative of Ina’s f lair, her fine table and the bright conversations around it. There was Andy Warhol, the famous artist and longtime friend, for whose magazine, “Interview,” Ina served as Washington editor. His silk-screen portraits of her are among his iconic works. An arts patron, she became an effective fund-raiser for related causes she believed in. For the American Film Institute she created an entire series of programs, replete with lures of special screenings and embassy events for supporters. Shocked by the bare walls of the stunning Federal Reserve Board building — “The reception room had a still life of a dead fish!”— she suggested that her friend,
Fed Board Chairman Arthur Burns, set up a fine arts advisory board for the entire complex, which he did; so far resulting in over 150 exhibitions supported by private funding. To mark her mother’s 100th year, Susan Ginsburg invited a small group of Ina’s friends there for a private tour (featuring Warhol’s portrait of Ina) with Fine Arts Program Director Stephen Phillips followed by lunch and reminiscences in a quiet corner at Cafe Milano. Guests included Aniko Gaal Schott, Willee Lewis, Kevin Chaffee, Mario Velasquez, Dean Reed and Berta Brenha. Ina was unique. The avant-garde didn’t faze her. She lived it. While she had closets full of the classic greats — Dior, Courrèges — she was no clotheshorse. Ina was the epitome of chic, not as a “style-setter,” but as style itself, one that was inimitably her own. Her impeccable taste set the bar quite high. We are all the richer for her time spent among us.
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