Lee Oscar Lawrie (October 16, 1877 – January 23, 1963[1]) was an Americanarchitectural sculptor and an important figure in the American sculpture scene preceding World War II. Over his long career of more than 300 commissions Lawrie's style evolved through ModernGothic, toBeaux-Arts,Classicism, and, finally, intoModerne orArt Deco.
He created a frieze on theNebraska State Capitol building inLincoln, Nebraska, including a portrayal of the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation. He also created some of the architectural sculpture and his most prominent work, the free-standing bronzeAtlas (installed 1937) atNew York City'sRockefeller Center.[2]
Reredos of Saint Thomas Church, at Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street in New York City
Lee Lawrie was born inRixdorf, Germany, in 1877 and immigrated to the United States in 1882 as a young child with his family; they settled inChicago. It was there, at the age of 14, that he began working for the sculptorRichard Henry Park.
Lawrie received a bachelor's degree in fine arts fromYale University in 1910. He was an instructor in Yale's School of Fine Arts from 1908 to 1919 and taught in the architecture program atHarvard University from 1910 to 1912.[4]
Lawrie's collaborations withRalph Adams Cram andBertram Goodhue brought him to the forefront of architectural sculptors in the United States. After the breakup of the Cram, Goodhue firm in 1914, Lawrie continued to work with Goodhue until the architect died in 1924. He next worked with Goodhue's successors.
Lawrie sculpted numerous bas reliefs forEl Fureidis,[5] an estate inMontecito, California designed by Goodhue. The bas reliefs depict the Arthurian Legends and remain intact at the estate today.
TheNebraska State Capitol and theLos Angeles Public Library both feature extensive sculptural programs integrated with the surface, massing, spatial grammar, and social function of the building. Lawrie's collaborations with Goodhue are arguably the most highly developed example of architectural sculpture in American architectural history.
A bust of Lawrie was sculpted Joseph Kiselewski. The Academy Art Museum in Easton, Maryland likely commissionedKiselewski to do the bust. Lawrie was a co-founder of the museum.[7] Kiselewski worked with Lawrie in the early years of his career prior to going to France to study.
After Goodhue's death, Lawrie produced important and highly visible work underRaymond Hood atRockefeller Center in New York City, which included theAtlas in collaboration withRene Paul Chambellan. By November 1931 Hood said, "There has been entirely too much talk about the collaboration of architect, painter and sculptor." He relegated Lawrie to the role of a decorator.[11]
Lawrie's most noted work is not architectural: it is the freestanding statue ofAtlas, on Fifth Avenue at Rockefeller Center, standing a total 45 feet tall, with a 15-foot human figure supporting anarmillary sphere.[12] At its unveiling, some critics were reminded ofBenito Mussolini, whileJames Montgomery Flagg suggested that it looked as Mussolinithought he looked.[13] The international character ofStreamline Moderne, embraced byFascism as well as corporate democracy, lost favor during the Second World War.
Featured above the entrance to 30 Rockefeller Plaza and axially behind the golden Prometheus, Lawrie'sWisdom is one of the most visible works of art in the complex. An Art Deco piece, it echoes the statements of power shown inAtlas andPaul Manship'sPrometheus.
Allegorical relief panels calledCourage, Patriotism and Wisdom over the entry doors toUnited States Senate chamber (done as part of the 1950 Federal-period remodeling of the Senate),Washington, D.C.
^Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, 2013)
^Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts
^"Welcome to".www.montecitoparadise.com. Archived from the original on February 3, 2011.
^Thomas E. Luebke, ed.,Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, 2013): Appendix b, p. 548.
Bok, Edward W.,America's Taj Mahal: The Singing Tower of Florida, The Georgia Marble Company, Tate, Georgia c. 1929.
Brown, Elinor L.,Architectural Wonder of the World, State of Nebraska, Building Division, Lincoln, Nebraska 1978.
Fowler, Charles F.,Building a Landmark: The Capitol of Nebraska, Nebraska State Building Division, 1981.
Garvey, Timothy Joseph,Lee Lawrie: Classicism and American Culture, 1919 - 1954, PhD. Thesis University of Minnesota 1980.
Gebhard, David,The National Trust Guide to Art Deco in America, John Wiley & Sons, New York, New York 1996.
Kvaran & Lockley,Guide to Architectural Sculpture of America, unpublished manuscript.
Lawrie; Lee,Sculpture - 48 Plates With a Foreword by the Sculptor, J.H. Hanson Cleveland, Ohio 1936.
Luebke, Frederick C. Editor,A Harmony of the Arts: The Nebraska State Capitol, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska 1990.
Masters, Magaret Dale,Hartley Burr Alexander—Writer-In-Stone, Margaret Dale Masters 1992 .
Nelson, Paul D.,Courthouse Sculptor: Lee Lawrie, Ramsey County History Quarterly V43 #4, *Ramsey County Historical Society, St Paul, MN, 2009.
Oliver, Richard,Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, The Architectural History Foundation, New York & The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1985.
Whitaker, Charles Harris, Editor, Text by Lee Lawrie et al.Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, Architect-and Master of Many Arts, Press of the American Institute of Architects, Inc., NYC 1925.
Whitaker, Charles Harris and Hartley Burr Alexander,The Architectural Sculpture of the State Capitol at Lincoln Nebraska, Press of the American Institute of Architects, New York 1926.
LeeLawrie.com - Additional Website of Gregory Paul Harm. Features additional Lawrie works recently added by Harm to the Smithsonian Institution's Art Inventory Catalog.
Lee Lawrie - Stalking Lawrie: America's Machine Age Michelangelo.
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