Four Seasons Restaurant
The Four Seasons is a famous restaurant in New York City located at 99 East 52nd Street (Manhattan), in the Seagram Building.
The restaurant's interior, which was designed by the building's architects Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson, has remained almost unchanged since construction in 1959. The restaurant was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission as an interior landmark in 1989.[1]
The restaurant itself has been widely praised, winning the James Beard Award in 1999. The restaurant is known as much for its clientele as its food, with its Midtown location making it convenient for power lunches.
Over a hundred items of serviceware were designed by Garth and Ada Louise Huxtable, everything from champagne glasses to bread trays.[2]
The restaurant is owned by Alex von Bidder and Julian Niccolini and, in 2009, has been the subject of a mockumentary and a children's book due out in August. [3]
For the celebration of the restaurant's 50th anniversary,The Four Seasons has hired Manhattan Architect Belmont Freeman FAIA. for a full restoration of the Landmark restaurant.
Art in the Four Seasons
The artist Mark Rothko was famously engaged to paint a series of works for the restaurant in 1958. Accepting the commission, he secretly resolved to create "something that will ruin the appetite of every son-of-a-bitch who ever eats in that room." Observing the restaurant's pretentious atmosphere upon his return from a trip to Europe, Rothko abandoned the project altogether, returned his advance and kept the paintings for himself. The final series was dispersed and now hangs in three locations: London’s Tate Gallery, Japan’s Kawamura Memorial Museum and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. [4]
From 1975 until 1985 four paintings by Ronnie Landfield from the collection of Philip Johnson [5] were installed on the wall that had been initially planned for the Mark Rothko commission.[6][7] In 1985 the artist James Rosenquist was commissioned to install a permanent mural on the wall; the Landfield paintings were returned to Philip Johnson.
A major Richard Lippold sculpture is installed in the Front Bar, which hangs from the ceiling. The large curtain designed by Pablo Picasso for the Ballets Russes ballet Le Tricorne (1919) has been hung between the Grill Room and the Pool Room for many years. In addition to the works on permanent public display there are other works and continuously revolving exhibitions in the dining rooms and the 52nd Street entrance walls which have included paintings by Frank Stella, Richard Anuszkiewicz and Ronnie Landfield, amongst several others.
References
- ^ Restaurant Row: Four Seasons
- ^ http://www.fourseasonsrestaurant.com/index2.htm
- ^ Maurer, Daniel (June 18, 2009). "Four Seasons Owner Breaks 'No Dogs' Rule for Kids' Book". NYMag.com.
- ^ How Rothko's Seagram murals found their way to London, the Guardianretrieved online September 10, 2009
- ^ Exhibition Review, retrieved online October 27, 2008
- ^ Tate Modern, Rothko Murals retrieved October 4 2008
- ^ Biography - under commissions and special projects, retrieved online June 22, 2008
External links
- Four Seasons Restaurant - official website
- STREETSCAPES: Four Seasons; Serving Up a Restaurant for Landmark Designation
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