08 Aug Iconic Baltimore: Fine Art Photography for The Four Seasons Baltimore
As a subject, Baltimore provides wonderful opportunities for artists. You can go from historical to industrial and urban to country by traveling a few miles. Each neighborhood has a completely different personality and iconic views that are worth celebrating. For the Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore located in Harbor East, the team wanted to create a few fine art images that showed off the beautiful views that surrounded their gorgeous location.
Together with their interior designers, Emerald Hill Interiors, the Four Seasons worked to renovate the lobby of their private residences. Part of that project included featuring custom Baltimore fine art imagery of Harbor East and the Four Seasons itself.
Choosing the Art
In order to select the right art, it is important to understand the art’s purpose. Corporate artwork should be more than something pretty on a wall; it should be meaningful and tell a story. This lobby was going to be used by the owners in the private residences, so the art needed to speak to them and create a mood. It needed to say “You are here. This is home.” Emerald Hill and the Four Seasons wanted pieces that showed off their city pride as well as images that captured unique perspectives — not the same view that they saw all of the time.
Over the span of a few days, John photographed a number of locations surrounding the hotel. The final portfolio contained images of iconic Harbor East views from different viewpoints at multiple times of day. The mock ups provided incorporated a range of photo tones that included desaturated looks, black and white images, browntones, and natural color. After reviewing the images, the design team chose views of the marina and bike path that featured the hotel in the background and a panoramic view of the Inner Harbor from the private residences’ floor.
Complementing the Design
There are some times when it is essential to frame a piece for the art itself. A historic image may look silly in a contemporary frame, and an abstract piece of art could look gaudy in an antique frame. Other times, the art can be versatile and be used to help put the finishing touches on an interior design. For this project, it was important to choose a frame combination that worked with the final vision for the space.
The lobby had a textured wallpaper with hints of copper that the designers wanted to highlight with the art. They chose to have the photographs printed in a warm browntone that created drama in the image while complementing the design. Each photograph was framed with the same neutral mat and weathered gold frame. The frames pick up on the accents in the wallpaper and add to the sleek redesign.
The end result is elegant. The photography is intriguing because it makes you wonder where the photographer stood while it shows off the beauty of both Harbor East and the Four Seasons. The frame design is beautiful and complementary to the lobby. We believe that artwork should be meaningful and have a purpose. This art display is a reminder of what can be special about Baltimore.
Want to learn more about custom fine art and framing? Check out our ebook, “The Guide to Office Envy.”