My prior Art posts can be found HERE.
How do we move away from being a civilization that produces art that causes comments like, “my five year old could make this,” back to being one that creates beauty and inspires deep questions? We must reject modernity and embrace tradition. To embrace tradition, we must first learn about it..
Let’s study art history together.
Atlas
| Artist | Lee Lawrie |
|---|---|
| Year | 1937 |
| Type | Bronze |
| Dimensions | 14 m (45 ft) |
| Location | New York City |
This art deco styled statue of an ancient Greek Titan is a symbol of America’s dominant global economy and its financial sector. It’s associated with other works of art and literature, including in particular Ayn Rand’s Atlans Shrugged and the TV series 30 Rock. For that reason, I’ve always found it to be interesting that the statue was erected during the American Great Depression. However, looking into the history of its making, you find out that it was designed in the Roaring 20s, when a kind of America-centric view made sense and fit the times quite well. The earlier design date also (probably) explains the art deco style, which faded from fashion after the 1920s.
The statue is a depiction of the Greek Titan, Atlas, who carried the sky on his shoulders for all eternity. It might feel odd to equate the global economy with the sky. Or it might feel exactly on point. I suppose that depends on your worldview . Either way, by placing the statue in the location where it was placed, the messaging seems to be that everything depends on Wall Street. Is that too heavy a burden for New York City’s finance bros to bear? There remains some doubt.
(for more on the statue, via wiki)
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 and was installed in 1937. Atlas was cast at the Roman Bronze Works, a subsidiary of the General Bronze Corporation in Corona, Queens. The Roman Bronze Works had long been a sub-contractor to Louis C. Tiffany’s Tiffany Studios which was then bought out by the General Bronze Corporation in 1928. 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.
The sculpture is in the Art Deco style of Rockefeller Center. The figure of Atlas in the sculpture is 15 feet (4.6 m) tall, while the entire statue is 45 feet (14 m) tall. It weighs 14,000 pounds (6,400 kg), and is the largest sculpture at Rockefeller Center.
Atlas is depicted carrying the celestial vault on his shoulders. The north–south axis of the armillary sphere on his shoulders points towards the North Star‘s position relative to New York City. The statue stands on one muscular leg atop a small stone pedestal, whose corner faces Fifth Avenue.
For a virtual tour of the statue, I direct you to the following:
Atlas is my favorite mythical dummkopf. He tricks Heracles into taking his curse and then Heracles immediately pulls the exact same scam on him. SHAZAM as we know has the stamina of Atlas. Sometimes I try to make acronym name superheroes based on mythological figures but I never get far.
There are definitely a lot of mythological dumkopfs among the Greek deities. Atlas is a good one, though.
I wonder when Greek mythology stopped publishing new volumes. Is Atlas still doing this job or did he trick someone else into holding up the skies 1,500 years ago and we just didn’t out about it b/c the Oracle of Delphi, or whoever wrote down the mythology, went out of business?