Rockefeller Center After Goodhue's death, Lawrie produced 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 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. Lawrie's most noted work is not architectural: it is the freestanding statue of
Atlas, on Fifth Avenue at Rockefeller Center, standing a total 45 feet tall, with a 15-foot human figure supporting an
armillary sphere. At 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, lost 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.
Other commissions • Allegorical relief panels called
Courage, Patriotism and Wisdom over the entry doors to
United States Senate chamber (done as part of the 1950 Federal-period remodeling of the Senate),
Washington, D.C. • Education Building (a.k.a. Forum Building) in
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania •
Louisiana State Capitol in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana • Peace Memorial at
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania • Sculptural elements of the Fidelity Mutual Life Building in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (now
Perelman Building of the
Philadelphia Museum of Art, including the owl of wisdom, the dog of fidelity, the pelican of charity, the possum of protection, and the squirrel of frugality), architects
Zantzinger, Borie and Medary • Statue of George Washington, National Cathedral,
Washington, D.C. • Friezes for the Ramsey County Courthouse in
Saint Paul, Minnesota •
Whatsoever a Man Soweth, fifth issue of the long running
Society of Medalists. • Two Egyptian bas-reliefs for the 1924
Hale Solar Laboratory in
Pasadena, California •
National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and the bronze doors of the John Adams Building at the
Library of Congress Annex, both in Washington, D.C. •
Harkness Memorial Tower at
Yale University,
New Haven, Connecticut •
Sterling Memorial Library at Yale University •
Beaumont Tower at
Michigan State University in
East Lansing, Michigan •
Kirk in the Hills Presbyterian in
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan •
Bok Singing Tower in Mountain Lake,
Florida, architects Zantzinger, Borie and Medary • Designed sculptures for the
Brittany American Cemetery and Memorial in
Brittany, France, executed by Jean Juge of Paris and the French sculptor, Augustine Beggi. •
Hubbard Bell Grossman Pillot Memorial gravestone. • World War I Memorial Flagstaff,
Pasadena, California •
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Bridge,
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1930 ==In popular culture==