Trimmings June 16, 2010
Four Seasons Denied Rothko Repros, While Pop Gets Chanterelle Illos
By Daniel Maurer
Photo: Darren Atkins
Not only did Mark Rothko famously refuse to sell his paintings to The Four Seasons once he discovered how pretentious its diners were (famously, his original intention was to paint "something that will ruin the appetite of every son-of-a-bitch who ever eats in that room"), but according to The Wall Street Journal, the folks behind Red (the play about the commission in question) recently declined to sell reproductions of the works to the restaurant. Julian Niccolini tells the Journal he saw the play and thought, Why not hang the reproductions up where the originals were intended to go, and then sell them for charity? — but the president of Pace Gallery, which represents Rothko's estate, says it's "too close to the edge of something weird." Meanwhile, here's something else weird: Darren Atkins tells us that some of Chanterelle's famous menu illustrations have ended up at a new Upper East Side joint, Pop Art Bar and Restaurant.
According to Atkins's post on Dmanburger, Nahid de Camillis, a former employee of the Museum of Modern Art in Rome, has hung up some works by Russell Young and Banksy in the new place. It opens tomorrow (with an outdoor dining area!), at 345 East 62nd Street near First Avenue (212-308-0900). Additionally, Atkins reveals to us that de Camillis (as you can see in the shot above) has acquired some menu illustrations by Marcel Marceau and Roy Lichtenstein, among others. Perhaps the very last illustration, by Juan Hamilton, is also on display.
Four Seasons Rebuffed by "Red" [WSJ]
Pop Bar and Restaurant [Dmanburger]
red (play)
four seasons restaurant
pop bar and restaurant