Recent market barometers, reports of record-breaking auctions, and the emergence of new shows – from the Venice Biennale and Documenta in Kassel, to Art Basel in Switzerland and Miami Beach – it seems the art world has seen a considerable recovery this year.
Echoing the global trend, many Four Seasons hotels and resorts have been increasing their collections, using prominent collectors to curate the public spaces and buying at auction or securing loans from local museums.
With new rotating exhibits, art for sale and podcast tours, each hotel and resort reflects the culture of its respective country or city, while taking an important role in promoting local and emerging artists.
To the delight of travellers who appreciate beautiful surroundings and diverse cultures, Four Seasons is fast becoming an integral part of the international art scene.
New collections
The artistic concept of Four Seasons Resort Provence at Terre Blanche has always paid tribute to the extensive art history of Provence, whose artists and works continued the journeys begun by the famous masters. While the carefully curated permanent collection inside the Resort evolves slowly, the owners have broadened the range of sculptures with a number of extraordinary additions. Now guests can meander past original Arman, Herbert Brandl, Tony Cragg, Jim Dine, Jean Dubuffet, Antony Gormley, André Masson, Jaume Plensa and Gunther Necker pieces throughout the grounds.
The US art scene has its eyes trained on Four Seasons Hotel Washington, DC, where a new, largely contemporary art collection features works by Andy Warhol, Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Mangold, Ron Richmond, Andrei Petrov and Andrea Rosenberg.
At Four Seasons Hotel Prague, a series of changing art exhibitions was launched in May in cooperation with ArtPro gallery. Featuring contemporary works by local Czech artists, the themed exhibit changes with the seasons. The inaugural exhibition featured sculptor Olbram Zoubek and painter Mirek Kozeluh.
Living galleries at Four Seasons
The art gallery at Four Seasons Resort Seychelles is spread over 200 square metres (2,153 square feet) and promotes local artists by offering them a platform to showcase and sell their works. For example, artworks by George Camille capture the colour and spirit of the Creole life.
Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North, which recently partnered with Wilde Meyer Gallery to introduce its own for-sale gallery collection, is currently presenting art of the Huichol mountain people indigenous to western central Mexico, who use colourful fibres to express shamanistic ideas. Regular exhibits at Four Seasons Hotel Jakarta showcase paintings and photographs by local or world artists inspired by Indonesia, from international artists such as Rudolf Schmidt, John Vandersterren and Ken Patten to local artists like Totok Duko, Riyani and Bonda.
The dedicated Art Gallery at Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village, Los Angeles has rotating exhibits throughout the year. An exclusive collection of paintings and sculptures by Douglas Fincham and John Wullbrandt was recently featured. Now, the Hotel is unveiling a new exhibit entitled Canvas to a Cure , comprised entirely of paintings and sculptures by female artists. Proceeds from this exhibit will benefit the Wellness Community, an organisation dedicated to helping those with cancer and their loved ones.
With art galleries on every corner, numerous exhibits and a burgeoning art scene, Four Seasons Hotel Miami is perfectly placed to showcase important Miami-based artists. The works featured here cover several media, from painting and sculpture to print and photography. Three sculptures by celebrated Colombian artist Fernando Botero are on permanent display in the Hotel’s lobby, while works by Cuban artist Jose Bedia, Brazilian artist Vik Muniz, Haitian painter Edouard Duval-Carrié, and Venezuelan painter and installation artist, Jesús Rafael Soto, fill the public spaces.
Private view (and listen)
Encouraging guests to explore the local art scene, Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco has created a podcast to guide them through area galleries and teach them more about the artists exhibiting in the Hotel – among them, Guy Dill, Darren Waterston, Anne Appleby, and Deborah Oropallo. A similar podcast will soon launch at Four Seasons Resort Jackson Hole, where the superlative landscape is the inspiration for most of the 2,000-plus works on display. The museum-quality collection includes paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture spanning four centuries. Highlights include prints by Joan Miró, and Alberto Giacometti.
Cultural collections
The owners of Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon are dedicated art collectors and delight in offering guests the chance to live among an important collection of mid-twentieth century Portuguese art. Significant pieces include a set of three handmade tapestries by the father of the Portuguese modernist movement, José de Almada Negreiros.
Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at Nile Plaza houses an impressive collection of more than 200 paintings by national artists, including three of Farouk Hosny’s largest frescoes, also illustrated in a beautiful table book, Art of the Nile Plaza. Ink paintings and watercolours depicting the history of China through portraits of the Han and the Tang dynasties are among the 1,500-strong collection at Four Seasons Hotel Singapore, handpicked to reflect Asian culture.
Modern-day art can be viewed at Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong, with paintings, sculptures, metalwork and ceramics by both local Hong Kong and international artists. Artworks include an installation by Columbian artist Olga de Amaral and French painter Jean Miotte – the first artist to exhibit in China following the Cultural Revolution.
The contemporary art collection at Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest includes limited edition prints from three major 20th century Hungarian artists – Victor Vasarely, Lajos Kassák and János Fajó, as well as British ceramic artist Vivienne Foley. Guests are greeted in the lobby by modish sculptor Mamikon Yengibarian’s bronze Tumbling Dolls, the piece that propelled the Armenian-born artist into the international arena.
In Hawaii, the native art at Four Seasons Resort Hualālai at Historic Ka’ūpūlehu is the only resort collection based on Hawaiian themes and using indigenous materials. Presenting a historical biography of the island, the varied collection includes hand-woven textiles, oil paintings, etchings and many ancient artifacts. Sister property Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea focuses on the contemporary elements of Hawaiian fine art. With more than 280 original works, including paintings, sculptures, photography, ceramics, textiles, artifacts, wood vessels and feather lei, Marie McDonald’s contemporary Kapa, Toshiko Takaezu’s ceramics and Michael Harada’s unfinished kubuki masks illustrate a bold style new to Hawaii.
Among the most notable artwork at Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita, Mexico are the bronze Gigantas sculptures by Adolfo Riestra. The Resort’s Cultural Center celebrates Mexico’s rich artistic heritage through lectures, demonstrations and tours, and offers guests the opportunity to discover ancient and modern-day art forms, from Huichol Indian yarn painting to contemporary pottery, as well as unique sculptures by Mexican artists Lizette Aguilar and Rivelino.
The most extensive collection of Pacific Northwest art outside a museum or gallery is housed at Four Seasons Hotel Seattle, which features 40 pieces of original artwork, as well as 16 original reproductions of pieces in The Seattle Art Museum’s permanent collection. Curated by Virginia Wright, the city’s most prominent arts patron, featured artists include Mark Tobey, Morris Graves, Paul Horiuchi and Alden Mason – considered the masters of the Pacific northwest.
Chosen to reflect the energy and diversity of the contemporary Irish art scene, renowned Irish artists such as Louis le Brocquy, Tony O’Malley, Barrie Cooke and Sean Scully, as well as emerging talents, make up the collection on view at Four Seasons Hotel Dublin. The Hotel’s Ice Bar, featuring a series of unique tapestries and sculptures by prominent artists, is now a favourite haunt of the artists themselves.
