Editing Lee Lawrie

{{Short description|American sculptor}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox artist
| honorific_prefix = 
| name             = Lee Lawrie
| image            = Lee Lawrie.jpg
| image_size       = 
| alt              = 
| caption          = 
| native_name      = 
| birth_name       = 
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1877|10|16}}
| birth_place      = [[Rixdorf]], Germany
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1963|01|23|1877|10|16}} 
| death_place      = [[Easton, Maryland]], United States
| resting_place    = 
| nationality      = German-American
| education        = 
| alma_mater       = [[Yale University]]
| known_for        = Sculptor
| notable_works    = ''[[Atlas statue (New York City)|Atlas]]'' in collaboration with [[Rene Paul Chambellan]]
| style            = [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]], [[Beaux-Arts architecture|Beaux-Arts]], [[Classicism]], [[Art Deco]]
| movement         = 
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| awards           = <!-- {{awd|award|year|title|role|name}} (optional) -->
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[[File:Objectivist1.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.45|Lawrie's ''[[Atlas statue (New York City)|Atlas]]'' in [[Rockefeller Center]] on [[Fifth Avenue]] in [[New York City]], opposite [[St. Patrick's Cathedral (Manhattan)|St. Patrick's Cathedral]].]]
'''Lee Oscar Lawrie''' (October 16, 1877 – January 23, 1963<ref>"Lee Lawrie, 85, Is Dead;Sculptor of Statue of Atlas" ''The New York Times'', January 25, 1963</ref>) was an American [[architectural 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 Modern [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]], to [[Beaux-Arts architecture|Beaux-Arts]], [[Classicism]], and, finally, into ''Moderne'' or [[Art Deco]].

He created a frieze on the [[Nebraska State Capitol]] building in [[Lincoln, 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 bronze '' [[Atlas (statue)|Atlas]]'' (installed 1937) at [[New York City]]'s [[Rockefeller Center]].<ref>[https://archive.today/20110524184237/http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Entertainment/2008/05/04/atlas_statue_to_get_makeover_in_new_york/8073/ UPI, "Atlas statue to get makeover in New York"], NewsTrack, May 4, 2005</ref>

Lawrie's work is associated with some of the United States' most noted buildings of the first half of the twentieth century.  His stylistic approach evolved with building styles that ranged from Beaux-Arts to neo-Gothic to [[Art Deco]].  Many of his architectural sculptures were completed for buildings by [[Bertram Goodhue]] of [[Cram & Goodhue]], including the chapel at [[West Point]]; the [[National Academy of Sciences]] in Washington, D.C.; the [[Nebraska State Capitol]]; the [[Los Angeles Public Library]]; [[St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church (Manhattan)|St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church]] in New York; [[Cornell Law School]] in Ithaca, New York; and [[Rockefeller Chapel]] at the University of Chicago.  He completed numerous pieces in [[Washington, D.C.]], including the bronze doors of the [[John Adams Building]] of the [[Library of Congress]], the [[Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception]] south entrance portal, and the interior sculpture of George Washington at the [[Washington National Cathedral|National Cathedral]].<ref>''Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts'' (Washington, D.C.:  U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, 2013)</ref>

==Early work==
[[Image:St. Thomas Church Detail.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1|Reredos of Saint Thomas Church, at Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street in New York City]]  
Lee Lawrie was born in [[Rixdorf]], Germany, in 1877 and immigrated to the United States in 1882 as a young child with his family; they settled in [[Chicago]]. It was there, at the age of 14, that he began working for the sculptor [[Richard Henry Park]].

At the age of 15, in 1892 Lawrie worked as an assistant to many of the sculptors in [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]], for their part in constructing the "White City" for the [[World's Columbian Exposition|World's Columbian Exposition of 1893]].  Following the completion of that work, Lawrie went East, where he became an assistant to [[William Ordway Partridge]].  During the next decade, he worked with other established sculptors: [[Augustus Saint-Gaudens]], [[Philip Martiny]], [[Alexander Phimister Proctor]], [[John William Kitson]] and others.  His work at the [[Louisiana Purchase Exposition|Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St Louis, 1904]], under [[Karl Bitter]], the foremost architectural sculptor of the time, allowed Lawrie to develop both his skills and his reputation as an architectural sculptor.

Lawrie received a bachelor's degree in fine arts from [[Yale University]] in 1910.  He was an instructor in Yale's School of Fine Arts from 1908 to 1919 and taught in the architecture program at [[Harvard University]] from 1910 to 1912.<ref>''Civic Art:  A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts''</ref>

==Collaborations with Cram and Goodhue==
Lawrie's collaborations with [[Ralph Adams Cram]] and [[Bertram 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 for [[El Fureidis]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.montecitoparadise.com |title=Welcome to |website=www.montecitoparadise.com |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203093645/http://www.montecitoparadise.com/ |archive-date=2011-02-03}}</ref> an estate in [[Montecito, California]] designed by Goodhue. The bas reliefs depict the Arthurian Legends and remain intact at the estate today.

The [[Nebraska State Capitol]] and the [[Los 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.

Lawrie served as a consultant to the 1933-34 [[Century of Progress International Exposition]] in Chicago.  He was a member of the [[National Institute of Arts and Letters]], the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]], the [[National Academy of Design]], and the [[Architectural League of New York]].  Among his many awards was the [[AIA Gold Medal]] of the [[American Institute of Architects]] in 1921 and 1927, a medal of honor from the Architectural League of New York in 1931, and an honorary degree from Yale University.  He served on the [[U.S. Commission of Fine Arts]] in Washington, DC from 1933 to 1937 and again from 1945 to 1950; it oversees federal public works and artwork in the city.<ref>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.</ref>
[[File:Bust of Lee Lawrie created by his former assistant Joseph Kiselewski.jpg|thumb|[[Joseph Kiselewski]] sculpted this bust of his mentor Lee Lawrie.]]
A bust of Lawrie was sculpted Joseph Kiselewski. The Academy Art Museum in Easton, Maryland likely commissioned [[Kiselewski, Joseph|Kiselewski]] to do the bust. Lawrie was a co-founder of the museum.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sculpture |url=https://www.kiselewskisculpture.com/ |access-date=2023-05-12 |website=Joseph Kiselewski |language=en}}</ref> Kiselewski worked with Lawrie in the early years of his career prior to going to France to study.

===Commissions related to Goodhue===
[[File:Deborah Cook Sayles Public Library-reliefs.jpg|thumb|right|Reliefs at the Deborah Cook Sayles Public Library]]
[[Image:Sculpture at the Entrance to Rockefeller Chapel UofChicago.jpg|right|upright=1|thumb|Lawrie's work at [[Rockefeller Chapel]], [[University of Chicago]], circa 1929]]
* Marble reliefs above the windows of the [[Deborah Cook Sayles Public Library]], [[Pawtucket, Rhode Island]], 1902 (Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson)<ref>{{cite news |last1=Morgan |first1=William |title=5 gems of Rhode Island architecture |url=https://www.providencejournal.com/entertainmentlife/20190214/5-gems-of-rhode-island-architecture |access-date=February 19, 2019 |newspaper=The Providence Journal |date=February 14, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Sayles Library Reliefs by Lee Lawrie |url=http://pawtucketpublicart.com/Artists/lawrie.html |website=Pawtucket Public Art |access-date=February 19, 2019 |quote=The reliefs represent the first ever commission won by Lawrie}}</ref>
* Chapel at West Point, [[West Point, New York]] (Cram and Goodhue)
* Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, New York City (Cram and Goodhue)
* Pulpit and Lectern and Apse carvings at [[St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church (Manhattan)|St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church]], (Cram and Goodhue)
* [[Reredos]] at [[Saint Thomas Church (New York City)|Saint Thomas Church]] on Fifth Avenue in New York City (Cram and Goodhue)
* Reredos at [[St. John's Episcopal Church (West Hartford, Connecticut)]] (Goodhue)
*Reredos panel at [[St. Mary's-in-Tuxedo|St. Mary's-in-Tuxedo Episcopal Church]], [[Tuxedo Park, New York]] (Goodhue)<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tachau|first=Hanna|date=August 1922|title=Lee Lawrie - Architectural Sculptor|url=https://archive.org/details/internationalstu75newy/page/394/mode/1up?view=theater|journal=International Studio|pages=394|via=archive.org}}</ref>
* [[Nebraska State Capitol]], [[Lincoln, Nebraska]] (Goodhue)
* [[Los Angeles Public Library]], [[Los Angeles, California]] (Goodhue)
* Trinity English Lutheran Church, [[Fort Wayne, Indiana]] (Goodhue)
* [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] Building in [[Washington, D.C.]] (Goodhue)
* [[Rockefeller Chapel]], [[University of Chicago]], [[Chicago, Illinois]] (Goodhue)
* [[Christ Church Cranbrook]], in [[Bloomfield Hills, Michigan]] (Goodhue)
* [[Church of the Heavenly Rest]], New York City ([[Mayers Murray & Phillip]])

==Commissions after Goodhue's death==
=== Rockefeller Center ===
[[Image:RocCt-LeeLawrie-Wisdom.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1|''Wisdom'', 30 Rockefeller Plaza]]
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 statue (New York City)|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.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.museumplanet.com/tour.php/nyc/rc/44 | title='Wisdom with Sound and Light' by Lee Lawrie | publisher=Museum Planet | access-date=November 25, 2008 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120906053322/http://www.museumplanet.com/tour.php/nyc/rc/44 | archive-date=September 6, 2012 }}</ref>

Lawrie's most noted work is not architectural: it is the freestanding statue of [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]], on Fifth Avenue at Rockefeller Center, standing a total 45 feet tall, with a 15-foot human figure supporting an [[armillary sphere]].<ref>Dianne L. Durante, ''Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan: A Historical Guide'' 2007:139ff.</ref> At its unveiling, some critics were reminded of [[Benito Mussolini]], while [[James Montgomery Flagg]] suggested that it looked as Mussolini ''thought'' he looked.<ref>Durante 2007:141 offers this and some further negative quotes from artists and critics in New York during the forties.</ref> 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 (Manship)|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]]
<!--commenting out a previously deleted image [[Image:Lee Lawrie Washington.jpg|thumb|Statue of [[George Washington]] in [[Washington National Cathedral]] in [[Washington, DC]].]] -->
* 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 Tower|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 (administrative region)|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]]<ref>visited and photographed, September 2012</ref>
* [[State Street Bridge (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)|Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Bridge]], [[Harrisburg, Pennsylvania]], 1930<ref>Lawrie, Lee, Lee Lawrie: Sculpture, J.H. Jansen, Cleveland, Ohio,  1936,  Plate 6</ref>

==In popular culture==
His ''[[Atlas (statue)|Atlas]]'' was featured on the cover of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' magazine for December 20 and 27, 2010.

==Gallery==
<gallery caption="Works by Lawrie" class="center">
Image:Lee lawrie washington.jpg|George Washington statue - National Cathedral, Washington, DC
Image:Hubbard Bell Grossman Pillot Memorial - Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, D.C. - Stierch - B.jpg|Hubbard Bell Grossman Pillot Memorial, Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, DC
File:Soldiers_and_Sailors_Memorial_Bridge,_Harrisburg,_PA,_USA.jpeg|[[Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Bridge]], Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,  (1930)
</gallery>

<gallery caption="Bronze doors of the John Adams Building" class="center">
Image:Adams-east-doors-Lawrie-Highsmith.jpeg|East doors, Library of Congress [[John Adams Building]] (1939)
Image:Hermes-Itzamna-Lawrie-Highsmith.jpeg|Sculpted bronze figures of [[Hermes]] and [[Itzamna]] (1939)
Image:Nabu-Tahmurath-Lawrie-Highsmith.jpeg|Sculpted bronze figures of [[Nabu]] and [[Tahmurath]] (1939)
Image:Odin-Quetzalcoatl-Lawrie-Highsmith.jpeg|Sculpted bronze figures of [[Odin]] and [[Quetzalcoatl]] (1939)
Image:Ogma-Sequoyah-Lawrie-Highsmith.jpeg|Sculpted bronze figures of [[Ogma]] and [[Sequoyah]] (1939)
File:Ts'ang-Chieh-Lawrie-Highsmith.jpeg|Sculpted bronze figures of [[Cangjie]] (1939)
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Edward Ardolino]], collaborating sculptor
*[[List of Saltus Award winners]]

==Notes and references==

===Notes===
{{reflist|30em}}

===References===
*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, *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080510142531/http://www.rchs.com/index.htm 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.

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Lee Lawrie}}
*[http://www.leelawrie.com LeeLawrie.com] - Additional Website of Gregory Paul Harm. Features additional Lawrie works recently added by Harm to the Smithsonian Institution's Art Inventory Catalog.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110929061347/http://www.louisvilleartdeco.com/feature/LeeLawrie/LeeLawrie.html Lee Lawrie] - Stalking Lawrie: America's Machine Age Michelangelo.
*[http://www.philart.net/artist.php?id=133 Lee Lawrie page on philart.net] - pictures of artistic details on the Perelman building
*[https://archive.today/20130201043620/http://www.omaha.com/article/20091127/NEWS01/711279971 Article on Greg Harm's research and discoveries about Lawrie and his work on the Nebraska State Capitol]
* Lawrie collection in process. [http://library.columbia.edu/locations/avery/da.html/ Held by the Department of Drawings & Archives], [http://library.columbia.edu/locations/avery.html/ Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University].
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[[Category:20th-century American sculptors]]
[[Category:American male sculptors]]
[[Category:Art Deco sculptors]]
[[Category:American architectural sculptors]]
[[Category:Rockefeller family]]
[[Category:1877 births]]
[[Category:1963 deaths]]
[[Category:Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States]]
[[Category:Sculptors from Berlin]]
[[Category:Artists from Chicago]]
[[Category:Yale University alumni]]
[[Category:Yale School of Art faculty]]
[[Category:Harvard University faculty]]
[[Category:National Sculpture Society members]]
[[Category:Sculptors from Illinois]]
[[Category:Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters]]