Atlas (statue)

{{Short description|Statue of Atlas at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, New York, U.S.}}

{{italic title}}

{{Coord|40|45|32.12|N|73|58|37.84|W|display=title}}

{{Infobox artwork

| image_file = New York City, May 2014 - 033.JPG

| image_size = 200px

| title = Atlas

| alt =

| other_language_1 =

| other_title_1 =

| other_language_2 =

| other_title_2 =

| artist = Lee Lawrie

| year = {{Start date|1937}}

| type = Bronze

| height_imperial = 45

| width_imperial =

| length_imperial =

| imperial_unit = ft

| metric_unit = m

| city = New York City

| museum =

| coordinates =

| owner =

}}

File:Atlas Statue 630 Fifth Ave (1).jpg

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{{cite book| first=Christine| last=Roussel| title=The Art of Rockefeller Center| url=https://archive.org/details/guidetoartofr00chri| url-access=registration| location=New York| publisher=W.W. Norton & Company| date=May 17, 2006| isbn=978-0-3930-6082-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/guidetoartofr00chri/page/113 113]}} and was installed in 1937.{{cite web | title=New Sculpture Shown |work=The New York Times | date=1937-09-12 | url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1937/09/12/468926852.pdf | access-date=2017-11-21}} Atlas was cast at the Roman Bronze Works, a subsidiary of the General Bronze Corporation in Corona, Queens.{{cite news |title=John Polachek, An Industrialist |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1955/04/18/93802563.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0 |access-date=18 December 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=18 April 1955 |location=Obituaries |pages=22 |quote=In 1903, he became a supervisor of bronze manufacturing for Tiffany Studios. Founder of General Bronze Corporation Dies – Products Adorn Leading Buildings}}{{cite book |last1=Eidelberg |first1=Martin |last2=McClelland |first2=Nany |title=Behind the Scenes of Tiffany Glassmaking: the Nash Notebooks |date=2001 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=9780312282653 |pages=2–10 |edition=1st |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Id9kQgAACAAJ}}{{cite web |title=A Chronology of Louis C. Tiffany and Tiffany Studios |url=https://www.tiffanystudios.org/tiffany-chronology.html |website=Tiffany Studios |access-date=17 December 2023}}{{cite web |title=Tiffany Studios |url=https://morsemuseum.org/louis-comfort-tiffany/tiffany-studios/ |website=The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art |access-date=17 December 2023}}{{cite web |title=Museum Archivist |url=https://files.archivists.org/groups/museum/newsletter/pastissues/pdfs/vol18no1.pdf |website=Archivists.org |publisher=Amon Carter Museum of American Art |access-date=23 December 2023 |location=Fort Worth, TX |date=June 2005}} The Roman Bronze Works had long been a sub-contractor to Louis C. Tiffany's Tiffany Studios{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEFDD173CF934A15751C1A961948260 |first=Christopher |last=Gray |title=Streetscapes: Tiffany Studios; In Queens, a Remembrance of a Luminous Legend |work=The New York Times |date=27 December 1987 |access-date=25 September 2008}} which was then bought out by the General Bronze Corporation in 1928.{{cite news |title=BRONZE CORPORATION BUYS TIFFANY STUDIOS; John Polachek Again in Control of Metal Working Plant Which He Once Managed. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/01/31/issue.html |access-date=29 December 2023 |agency=The New York Times |issue=Business & Finance |publisher=The New York Times Publishing |date=31 January 1928}}{{cite news |last1=Erler |first1=Diana |title=Creating a New Bronze Age |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-brooklyn-daily-eagle/55230082/ |access-date=28 December 2023 |agency=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=19 August 1928 |pages=75}}{{cite book |last1=Rosenfeld |first1=Lucy |title=A Century of American Sculpture: The Roman Bronze Works Foundry |date=2002 |publisher=Schiffer Publishing |isbn=9780764315190 |pages=11 |edition=1st |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aB43AQAAIAAJ&q=subsidiary%20of%20general%20bronze%20corporation}} 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 Lawrie.{{cite web |last1=General Bronze Corporation |title=The General Bronze Corporation and Rene Paul Chambellan |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nnc2.ark:/13960/s258s75zhfq&seq=8 |website=Internet Archive, Columbia University |publisher=General Bronze Corporation |access-date=17 December 2023 |year=1946}}

The sculpture is in the Art Deco style of Rockefeller Center. The figure of Atlas in the sculpture is {{convert|15|ft|m}} tall, while the entire statue is {{convert|45|ft|m}} tall.{{cite web|url=http://architecture.learnhub.com/lesson/5870-examples-of-art-deco-in-new-york-city |title=Examples of Art Deco in New York City |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100108095828/http://architecture.learnhub.com/lesson/5870-examples-of-art-deco-in-new-york-city |archive-date=2010-01-08 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.museumplanet.com/tour.php/nyc/rc/16 |title=Atlas sculpture by Lee Lawrie |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100826062506/http://www.museumplanet.com/tour.php/nyc/rc/16 |archive-date=2010-08-26 }} It weighs {{convert|14,000|lbs|kg}},{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/nyregion/04atlas.html|title=Bringing a Smile (Well, a Shine) to a Burdened Statue of Atlas | work=The New York Times | first=David W. | last=Dunlap | date=2008-05-04 | access-date=2010-04-25}} and is the largest sculpture at Rockefeller Center.{{cite web|url=http://photohome.com/photos/new-york-pictures/new-york-city/atlas-1.html |title=Atlas (Statue in New York) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091201013959/http://photohome.com/photos/new-york-pictures/new-york-city/atlas-1.html |archive-date=2009-12-01 }}

Atlas is depicted carrying the celestial vault on his shoulders.{{cite book | last=Krinsky | first=Carol H. |author-link=Carol Herselle Krinsky | title=Rockefeller Center | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1978 | isbn=978-0-19-502404-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7xlDAQAAIAAJ | page= 151}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org/db/bb_files/1985RockefellerCenter.pdf|title=Rockefeller Center Designation Report|date=1985|publisher=City of New York; New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission|last=Adams|first=Janet|page=151|access-date=2017-12-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107113311/http://www.neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org/db/bb_files/1985RockefellerCenter.pdf|archive-date=2017-11-07|url-status=dead}} The north–south axis of the armillary sphere on his shoulders points towards the North Star's position relative to New York City.{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,757271,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501031631/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,757271,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 1, 2011|title=Art: Rockefeller Atlas | magazine=Time | date=1937-01-11 | access-date=2010-04-25}} The statue stands on one muscular leg atop a small stone pedestal, whose corner faces Fifth Avenue.