Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.
Description of Pictures: On this trip, I found the brochure describing artwork in the Rockefeller Center and tried to see it all.
Rockefeller Center
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Center art:
Rockefeller Center represents a turning point in the history of architectural sculpture: it is among the last major building projects in the United States to incorporate a program of integrated public art. Sculptor Lee Lawrie contributed the largest number of individual pieces — twelve — including the statue of Atlas facing Fifth Avenue and the conspicuous friezes above the main entrance to the RCA Building.
Paul Manship's highly recognizable bronze gilded statue of the Greek legend of the Titan Prometheus recumbent, bringing fire to mankind, features prominently in the sunken plaza at the front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The model for Prometheus was Leonardo (Leon) Nole, and the inscription from Aeschylus, on the granite wall behind, reads: "Prometheus, teacher in every art, brought the fire that hath proved to mortals a means to mighty ends." Although some sources cite it as the fourth-most familiar statue in the United States, behind the Lincoln Memorial, Mount Rushmore and the Statue of Liberty, Manship was not particularly fond or proud of it.[citation needed]
A large number of other artists contributed work at the Center, including Isamu Noguchi, whose gleaming stainless steel bas-relief, News, over the main entrance to 50 Rockefeller Plaza (the Associated Press Building) was a standout. At the time it was the largest metal bas-relief in the world. Other artists included Carl Milles, Hildreth Meiere, Margaret Bourke-White, Dean Cornwell, and Leo Friedlander.
In 1932, the Mexican socialist artist Diego Rivera (whose sponsor was Museum of Modern Art and whose patron at the time was Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, the wife of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.), was commissioned by their son Nelson Rockefeller to create a color fresco for the 1,071-square-foot (99 m2) wall in the lobby of t ...More...
Recognize anyone? If you recognize specific people (or other things) in the pictures which I haven't labeled, please identify them for the world. Or fill in any other descriptions you can. Click the little pencil icon underneath the file name (just above the picture). Spammers need not apply.
Slide Show: Want to see the pictures as a slide show?
[Slideshow]
Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.
Connection Not Secure messages? Those warnings you get from your browser about this site not having secure connections worry some people. This means this site does not have SSL installed (the link is http:, not https:). That's bad if you're entering credit card numbers, passwords, or other personal information. But this site doesn't collect any personal information so SSL is not necessary. Life's good!
Help? The Medium (Email) links are for screen viewing and emailing. You'll want bigger sizes for printing. [Click here for additional help]
Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
ROCK_110529_001.JPG: Atlas: by Lee Lawrie:
One can't help being lured in by the dominating sculpture of Atlas, designed by Lee Lawrie. Weighing in at 14,000 pounds, Atlas has the distinction of being the largest sculptural work in the Center. He stands 15-feet tall atop a 9-foot high pedestal. The exaggerated physical features cast in bronze are a fine example of the Art Deco style. What's odd about Atlas is what he's supporting on his shoulders -- not the earth, as in the original myth, but a representation of the heavens.
There are other important Center artworks within sight of Atlas. The International Building North (636 Fifth Avenue) to the right features two works by Attilio Piccirilli: a glass panel representing youth's leadership in world affairs (directly above the doors) and a polychrome limestone cartouche further up representing commerce and industry. The three-ton glass panel was cast by Corning Glass Company in 45 different molds. Atop the International Building North you can see Leo Lentelli's carved representations of Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
(The above was from the Rockefeller Center: Visitor's Guide & Walking Tour brochure)
ROCK_110529_025.JPG: The Fountainheads:
Within this limestone earthly paradise of The Channel Gardens lay six shallow pools with manicured hedges and seasonal flowers, their thirst quenched by the water-spouting bronze fountainheads, representing mythological tritons and nereids. Each sculpture has a specific meaning, representing Imagination, Alertness, Thought, Leadership, Will or Energy. All were designed by Rene P Chambellan. The Channel continues its slope to a flight of stone steps leading to the Sunken Plaza and the statue of Prometheus located eighteen feet below street level. The landmark designation plaques are at either end of the pool.
(The above was from the Rockefeller Center: Visitor's Guide & Walking Tour brochure)
ROCK_110529_065.JPG: The GE Building:
Outside the front entrance of the GE Building, notice the limestone and glass decorations above the doorway. Carved by Lee Lawrie, they are among the most dramatic of all Rockefeller Center's outdoor artworks. The central figure represents Wisdom, who rules over man's knowledge and interprets the laws of nature. Inspired by a William Blake painting of Jehovah, Wisdom grasps a compass the points to the light and sound waves carved on the cast pyrex screen below. Made of 240 glass blocks, the screen is a technical and artistic masterpiece. Light and sound are represented again i the sculptural reliefs above the right and left doorways. The inscription above the central door is based on the biblical passage in Isaiah 33:6.
(The above was from the Rockefeller Center: Visitor's Guide & Walking Tour brochure)
ROCK_110529_069.JPG: Man at the Crossroads
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Man at the Crossroads was a mural by Diego Rivera.
The Rockefellers wanted to have a mural put on the ground-floor wall of Rockefeller Center. Nelson Rockefeller wanted Henri Matisse or Pablo Picasso to do it because he favored their modern style, but neither was available. Diego Rivera was one of Nelson Rockefeller's mother's favorite artists and therefore was commissioned to create the huge mural. He was given a theme: "Man at the Crossroads Looking with Hope and High Vision to the Choosing of a New and Better Future." Rockefeller wanted the painting to make people pause and think.
The huge mural had many parts including: society women drinking alcohol, pictures of cells (sexually transmitted diseases), Leon Trotsky and finally the famous Lenin portion (depicting communism) which upset Rockefeller. The patron asked Rivera to change the face of Lenin to that of an unknown laborer's face as was originally intended but the painter left it as it was. The work was paid for on May 22, 1933, and immediately draped. People protested but it remained covered until the early weeks of 1934, when it was smashed by workers and hauled away in wheelbarrows. Rivera responded by saying that it was "cultural vandalism."
An assistant, Lucienne Bloch, had taken photographs of the mural before it was destroyed. Using them as a reference, Rivera repainted the mural, though at a smaller scale, at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City where it was renamed Man, Controller of the Universe. At Rockefeller Center in its place is a mural with Abraham Lincoln as its focal point.
The Rockefeller-Rivera dispute appears in the fiction films Cradle Will Rock, Anbe Sivam and Frida.
ROCK_110529_073.JPG: Man's Intellectual Mastery of the Material Universe: by Jose Maria Sert
On the 50th Street side lobby walls, the Spanish muralist Jose Maria Sert has depicted the evolution of machinery, the eradication of disease, the abolition of slavery, and the suppression of war. Sert painted his four mural panels, each measuring 25-feet by 17-feet, in his Paris studio. The completed paintings were shipped to Rockefeller Center and then hung on the walls.
Races of Mankind: by Jose Maria Sert:
On the Northeast wall near the stairway to the Mezzanine, the four races of man kick around what appears to be a soccer ball -- Sert's representation of the world. On the Southwest wall near the stairway to Mezzanine the four races of man are at peace. The cannon is broken and the symbolic grasping of hands in an unbroken chain of respect is the centerpiece.
Time: by Jose Maria Sert:
Sert's center ceiling mural is called Time, and by standing in different locations in the lobby, the three figures depicted as past, present, and future, give the illusion that they are coming to life.
American Progress: by Jose Maria Sert:
Sert's American Progress, in the place previously occupied by Rivera's mural, features two men -- one of Action and one of Thought: Abraham Lincoln and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
(The above was from the Rockefeller Center: Visitor's Guide & Walking Tour brochure)
ROCK_110529_081.JPG: Rhythms of Infinity:
The centerpiece to the concourse located at the main intersection of the underground "mall" is Rhythms of Infinity, a 10-foot by 32-foot sculpture created by Christopher Cosma and Denise Amses, installed in 2000. The sculpture is a breathtaking focal point made from glass, steel, stone and programmed lighting.
"Bellowing above the cries of the depression, Rockefeller Center thrusts its vast arms and spires unto the skies, muscling the floors of Manhattan to exclaim unto itself an electric future. Dignified by Raymond Hood's architecture, Lee Lawrie's Atlas and Wisdom, Jose Sert's murals, and Isamu Noguchi's bas relief -- balconies and corridors, halls, and vestibules celebrate the magnificence of the human spirit. Hubbell's telescopic vision links this past with the 21st Century. The earth converges with the greater Universe. Bodies of light, constellations, galaxies and planets embolden in glass to form a physical representation of space. With light into glass, rhythm and movement ignite to embody the universe. Testament to the vast, the unknown, the perilous but strong, Christopher Cosma and Denise Amses's Rhythms of Infinity will lie cradled within this mighty giant posturing its small beauty into the next century."
-- Christopher Cosma and Denise Amses
(The above was from the Rockefeller Center: Visitor's Guide & Walking Tour brochure)
ROCK_110529_216.JPG: Man labouring painfully with his own hands: living precariously and adventurously with courage fortitude and the indomitable will to survive.
ROCK_110529_247.JPG: Man the creator and master of the tool. Strengthening the foundations and multiplying the comforts of his abiding place.
ROCK_110529_268.JPG: Man the master and servant of the machine, harnessing to his will the forces of the material world, mechanising labour and
ROCK_110529_286.JPG: Man’s ultimate destiny depends not on whether he can learn new lessons or make new discoveries and conquests, but on his acceptance of the lesson taught him close upon two thousand years ago.
ROCK_110529_317.JPG: Man the master and servant of the machine, harnessing to his will the forces of the material world, mechanising labour and
adding these to the promise of leisure.
ROCK_110529_410.JPG: Prometheus: by Paul Manship
Paul Manship's powerful and elegant bronze sculpture provides a sensational backdrop for the dramatic plaza setting. Prometheus, who steals fire from heaven for mankind, strides across the stage in a perfect jete, as water cascades all about him. In the winter, Prometheus serves as the golden support of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree -- a holiday tradition and annual attraction that has delighted millions since 1934.
(The above was from the Rockefeller Center: Visitor's Guide & Walking Tour brochure)
ROCK_110529_462.JPG: Light and Movement: by Michio Ihara:
Inside the lobby of the International Building, on the south walls, are ten metallic sculptures, conceived as a single art work by their creator, Michio Ihara. They include about 16,000 individually balanced stainless steel leaves with gold patina, supported by vertical stainless steel cable. The beauty of the design is intended to reflect light and movement. This work was installed in July 1978.
(The above was from the Rockefeller Center: Visitor's Guide & Walking Tour brochure)
ROCK_110529_478.JPG: Bust of Charles Lindbergh:
At the time of Lindbergh's famous flight to Paris, sculpture Paul Fjedle was an art professor, teaching sculpture at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. The bronze bust, based on an earlier clay sculpture from 1939, was unveiled in 1975 and is dedicated to the pioneering spirit of Charles A Lindbergh. Accompanying the bust is a marble plaque with an inscription presented by the Air Mail Pioneers. Above the bust are the words of Lindbergh, his testament to the joys of aviation.
(The above was from the Rockefeller Center: Visitor's Guide & Walking Tour brochure)
ROCK_110529_520.JPG: Original Time Life Building:
At the plaza entrance, two intricately carved limestone bas-reliefs by Carl Jennewein symbolize Industry and Agriculture.
(The above was from the Rockefeller Center: Visitor's Guide & Walking Tour brochure)
ROCK_110529_526.JPG: Eastern Airlines Building:
Originally intended as an international building of sorts, the Eastern Airlines Building was to be the Holland House, supporting the cultural and commercial interests of the Dutch. However, plans were abandoned when Germany invaded Holland in 1940. In the lobby off the Plaza entrance is a bold panoramic mural of deep russet, sepia and gold depicting the history of travel and transportation, with an emphasis on air transport, befitting its initial tenant. Dean Cornwell painted this stimulating, futuristic mural in 1946. Take a moment to enjoy the many narratives found within.
(The above was from the Rockefeller Center: Visitor's Guide & Walking Tour brochure)
Limiting Text: You can turn off all of this text by clicking this link:
[Thumbnails Only]
Multi Column: Number of columns of thumbnails to appear per page (normally defaults to 3):
[1 col][2][3][4][5]
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Wikipedia Description: Rockefeller Center
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres between 48th and 51st Streets in New York City. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning between Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987. It is the largest privately held complex of its kind in the world, and an international symbol of modernist architectural style blended with capitalism.
History:
Rockefeller Center was named after John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who leased the space from Columbia University in 1928 and developed it from 1930. Rockefeller initially planned a syndicate to build an opera house for the Metropolitan Opera on the site, but changed his mind after the stock market crash of 1929 and the withdrawal of the Metropolitan from the project. Rockefeller stated "It was clear that there were only two courses open to me. One was to abandon the entire development. The other to go forward with it in the definite knowledge that I myself would have to build it and finance it alone." He took on the enormous project as the sole financier, on a 24-year lease (with the option for three 21-year renewals for a total of 87 years) for the site from Columbia; negotiating a line of credit with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and covering ongoing expenses through the sale of oil company stock.
It was the largest private building project ever undertaken in modern times. Construction of the 14 buildings in the Art Deco style (without the original opera house proposal) began on May 17, 1930 and was completed on November 1, 1939 when he drove in the final (silver) rivet into 10 Rockefeller Plaza. Principal builder, and "managing agent", for the massive project was John R. Todd and principal architect was Raymond Hood, working with and leading three architectural firms, on a team that included a young Wallace Harrison, later to ...More...
Bigger photos? To save space on the server and because the modern camera images are so large, photos larger than 640x480 have not been loaded on this page. If you need the bigger sizes of selected photos, email me and I can email them back to you or I can re-load this page temporarily with the bigger versions restored.
Sort of Related Pages: Still more pages here that have content somewhat related to this one:
2011_NY_Rock_NBC: NY -- NYC -- Rockefeller Center -- NBC Studio entrance (12 photos from 2011)
2018_NY_Rock_NBC: NY -- NYC -- Rockefeller Center -- NBC Studio entrance (26 photos from 2018)
2017_NY_Rock_Lego: NY -- NYC -- Rockefeller Center -- Lego Store (18 photos from 2017)
2019_NY_NYC_Radio_City: NY -- NYC -- Rockefeller Center -- Radio City Music Hall (20 photos from 2019)
2002_NY_NYC_Radio_City: NY -- NYC -- Rockefeller Center -- Radio City Music Hall (2 photos from 2002)
2011_NY_NYC_Radio_City: NY -- NYC -- Rockefeller Center -- Radio City Music Hall (17 photos from 2011)
2018_NY_NYC_Radio_City: NY -- NYC -- Rockefeller Center -- Radio City Music Hall (12 photos from 2018)
Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject:
[Public Art][Structures]
2011 photos: Equipment this year: I mostly used the Fuji S100fs camera as well as two Nikon models -- the D90 and the new D7000. Mostly a toy, I also purchased a Fuji Real 3-D W3 camera, to try out 3-D photographs. I found it interesting although I don't see any real use for 3-D stills now. Given that many of the photos from the 1860s were in 3-D (including some of the more famous Civil War shots), it's odd to see it coming back.
Trips this year:
Civil War Trust conferences (Savannah, GA, Chattanooga, TN),
New Jersey over Memorial Day for my birthday (people never seem to visit New Jersey -- it's always just a pit stop on the way to New York. I thought I might as well spend a few days there. Despite some nice places, it still ended up a pit stop for me -- New York City was infinitely more interesting),
my 6th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco).
Ego strokes: Author photos that I took were used on two book jackets this year: Jason Emerson's book "The Dark Days of Abraham Lincoln's Widow As Revealed by Her Own Letters" and Dennis L. Noble's "The U.S. Coast Guard's War on Human Smuggling." I also had a photo of Jason Stelter published in the Washington Examiner and a picture of Miss DC, Ashley Boalch, published in the Washington Post.
Number of photos taken this year: just over 390,000.