7. Howard Chandler Christy’s Fantasy Scenes with Naked Beauties (1928-35)
Visitors can enjoy a fine dining experience along with their art viewing at the Hotel des Artistes restaurant. Designed in 1918 by George Mott Pollard as an experiment in collaborative artistic living, artists lived and worked in the studios upstairs and dined in the downstairs Café des Artistes. This fusion of work, life, and entertainment proved to be immensely popular and was enjoyed by artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Rudolph Valentino, and Norman Rockwell.
Now, visitors can enjoy the golden age of Art Deco by experiencing an astonishing glimpse of old New York. Diners eat under the restaurant’s nine murals painted by former resident Howard Chandler Christy, one of the most popular portrait painters of the Jazz Age. Fantasy Scenes with Naked Beauties was completed upstairs in the artist’s studio from 1928 to 1935, featuring nymphs and mythical figures playfully frolicking in nature.