Atlas (statue) explained

Atlas
Artist:Lee Lawrie
Type:Bronze
Height Imperial:45
Imperial Unit:ft
Metric Unit:m
City:New York City

Atlas is a bronze statue in Rockefeller Center, within the International Building's courtyard, in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is across Fifth Avenue from St. Patrick's Cathedral. The sculpture depicts the ancient Greek Titan Atlas holding the heavens on his shoulders.

Atlas was created by the sculptor Lee Lawrie with the help of Rene Paul Chambellan[1] and was installed in 1937.[2] Atlas was cast at the Roman Bronze Works, a subsidiary of the General Bronze Corporation in Corona, Queens.[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] The Roman Bronze Works had long been a sub-contractor to Louis C. Tiffany's Tiffany Studios[8] which was then bought out by the General Bronze Corporation in 1928.[9] [10] [11] Under the ownership of General Bronze, the Roman Bronze Works produced some of its finest bronze artwork from sculptors like Paul Manship, Rene Chambellan, and Lee Lawrie.[12]

The sculpture is in the Art Deco style of Rockefeller Center. The figure of Atlas in the sculpture is 15feet tall, while the entire statue is 45feet tall.[13] [14] It weighs 14000lbs,[15] and is the largest sculpture at Rockefeller Center.[16]

Atlas is depicted carrying the celestial vault on his shoulders.[17] [1] [18] The north–south axis of the armillary sphere on his shoulders points towards the North Star's position relative to New York City.[19] The statue stands on one muscular leg atop a small stone pedestal, whose corner faces Fifth Avenue.[1]

In popular culture

The piece has since been appropriated as a symbol of the Objectivist movement[20] and has been associated with Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged (1957).

It has been featured in almost every episode of the television series 30 Rock, appearing in numerous establishing shots depicting the 30 Rockefeller Plaza building, where the series is set. Most Rainforest Cafe locations have a statue resembling this one in a waterfall with a fountain, with the words "Rescue the Rainforest" in green neon letters across the equator of the globe.[21]

Ridley Scott has cited the sculpture as the aesthetic inspiration for the character "Mother," on HBO Max's Raised by Wolves.[22]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Roussel, Christine. The Art of Rockefeller Center. registration. New York. W.W. Norton & Company. May 17, 2006. 978-0-3930-6082-9. 113.
  2. Web site: New Sculpture Shown . The New York Times . 1937-09-12 . 2017-11-21.
  3. News: John Polachek, An Industrialist . 18 December 2023 . The New York Times . 18 April 1955 . Obituaries . 22 . In 1903, he became a supervisor of bronze manufacturing for Tiffany Studios. Founder of General Bronze Corporation Dies – Products Adorn Leading Buildings.
  4. Book: Eidelberg . Martin . McClelland . Nany . Behind the Scenes of Tiffany Glassmaking: the Nash Notebooks . 2001 . St. Martin's Press . 9780312282653 . 2–10 . 1st .
  5. Web site: A Chronology of Louis C. Tiffany and Tiffany Studios . Tiffany Studios . 17 December 2023.
  6. Web site: Tiffany Studios . The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art . 17 December 2023.
  7. Web site: Museum Archivist . Archivists.org . Amon Carter Museum of American Art . 23 December 2023 . Fort Worth, TX . June 2005.
  8. News: Streetscapes: Tiffany Studios; In Queens, a Remembrance of a Luminous Legend . Christopher . Gray . The New York Times . 27 December 1987 . 25 September 2008.
  9. News: BRONZE CORPORATION BUYS TIFFANY STUDIOS; John Polachek Again in Control of Metal Working Plant Which He Once Managed. . 29 December 2023 . The New York Times . Business & Finance . The New York Times Publishing . 31 January 1928.
  10. News: Erler . Diana . Creating a New Bronze Age . 28 December 2023 . The Brooklyn Daily Eagle . 19 August 1928 . 75.
  11. Book: Rosenfeld . Lucy . A Century of American Sculpture: The Roman Bronze Works Foundry . 2002 . Schiffer Publishing . 9780764315190 . 11 . 1st .
  12. Web site: General Bronze Corporation . The General Bronze Corporation and Rene Paul Chambellan . Internet Archive, Columbia University . General Bronze Corporation . 17 December 2023 . 1946.
  13. Web site: Examples of Art Deco in New York City . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100108095828/http://architecture.learnhub.com/lesson/5870-examples-of-art-deco-in-new-york-city . 2010-01-08 .
  14. Web site: Atlas sculpture by Lee Lawrie . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100826062506/http://www.museumplanet.com/tour.php/nyc/rc/16 . 2010-08-26 .
  15. News: Bringing a Smile (Well, a Shine) to a Burdened Statue of Atlas . The New York Times . David W. . Dunlap . 2008-05-04 . 2010-04-25.
  16. Web site: Atlas (Statue in New York) . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20091201013959/http://photohome.com/photos/new-york-pictures/new-york-city/atlas-1.html . 2009-12-01 .
  17. Book: Krinsky, Carol H. . Carol Herselle Krinsky . Rockefeller Center . Oxford University Press . 1978 . 978-0-19-502404-3 . 151.
  18. Web site: Rockefeller Center Designation Report. 1985. City of New York
    New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
    . Adams. Janet. 151. 2017-12-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20171107113311/http://www.neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org/db/bb_files/1985RockefellerCenter.pdf. 2017-11-07. dead.
  19. News: Art: Rockefeller Atlas . https://web.archive.org/web/20110501031631/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,757271,00.html. dead. May 1, 2011. Time . 1937-01-11 . 2010-04-25.
  20. Web site: History of Atlas Shrugged . Ayn Rand Institute . January 14, 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140210182843/http://atlasshrugged.com/the-book/genesis-of-the-book/ . February 10, 2014 .
  21. News: Rainforest Cafe . 2016-04-03.
  22. Web site: Raised by Wolves: Ridley Scott and Aaron Guzikowski Talk Parenting on a New Planet. September 2020.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Atlas (statue)".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.