Rockefeller Center
After Goodhue's death, Lawrie went on to produce important and highly visible work under Raymond Hood at Rockefeller Center in New York City, which included the Atlas in collaboration with Rene Paul Chambellan. By November 1931 Hood made it known that "There has been entirely too much talk about the collaboration of architect, painter and sculptor", and relegated Lawrie to the role of a decorator.
As a result, Lawrie's most recognizable work is not architectural: it is the freestanding statue on Fifth Avenue at Rockefeller Center, standing 45 feet tall, with a 15-foot figure of Atlas, supporting an armillary sphere, with a total height of 45 feet. As its unveiling, some critics were reminded of Benito Mussolini, while James Montgomery Flagg suggested that it looked as Mussolini thought he looked; the international character of Streamline Moderne, embraced by Fascism as well as corporate democracy, did not find favor during the Second World War.
Featured above the entrance to 30 Rockefeller Plaza and axially behind the golden Prometheus, Lawrie's Wisdom is one of the most visible works of art in the complex. An Art Deco piece, it echoes the statements of power shown in Atlas and Paul Manship's Prometheus.
Read more about this topic: Lee Lawrie
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