Wisdom — 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, 1933 — Lee Lawrie
Rockefeller Center Series — NYC Art Deco Archive
At this distance, the figure reveals what the street view cannot: the precision of the polychrome crown, the geometry of each gold and black triangle, the force of a figure pushing back the clouds of ignorance. What remains is the face — looking down, in concentration.
The central figure of a 37-foot triptych — Wisdom, a Voice from the Clouds, with Light and Sound — spanning the main entrance. Lee Lawrie drew on William Blake's Urizen — reason and law made flesh — and gave him the vocabulary of the Machine Age. The Rockefeller complex was commissioned and built through the deepest years of the Great Depression.
Photographed by Roberto Bigano. Cover of FMR Magazine No. 12,/2024.
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Wisdom, Sound, and Light — 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, 1933
Lee Lawrie's triptych — Wisdom, a Voice from the Clouds, with Light and Sound — spans the full width of the main entrance of 30 Rockefeller Plaza — three limestone reliefs forming a single compositional program.
The Triptych
The three figures represent what John D. Rockefeller Jr. chose as the governing forces of the new complex: wisdom as the foundation, radio and television as the instruments of its reach. The program was commissioned at the depth of the Great Depression and built without compromise. Indiana limestone, hand-carved. Polychrome by Leon V. Solon. The scale — 37 feet across — was deliberate. The entrance was designed to declare before it welcomed.
Wisdom
Lee Lawrie drew on William Blake's Urizen — reason and law made flesh — and gave him the vocabulary of the Machine Age. The figure holds a compass to measure the forces of the universe, pushing back the clouds of ignorance with his left hand. Below, the inscription from Isaiah 33:6: "Wisdom and Knowledge Shall Be The Stability Of Thy Times." In 1933, this was not a philosophical statement. It was a program.
Sound and Light
Sound — to the left — represents radio: compact, alert, hands cupped around the mouth, the concentric circles of the signal rendered in stone. The primary tenant of 30 Rockefeller Plaza was NBC. Lawrie did not illustrate a technology. He gave it a body.
Light — to the right — represents television and film: a female figure emerging from clouds, arms raised like antennas, transmitting electrical signals and images through the air. Television in 1933 was not yet a public reality. Lawrie placed it alongside Wisdom as a force of equal weight.
The New York City Art Deco Archive — Available Stories
- The City of Opportunity — Art Deco Grilles, Chanin Building, 1929
New York, 1929 — A City at Its Peak, Casting Its Ambitions in Bronze. - Art Deco Elevator Panels — Fred French Building, 1927 — Glinsky & Bach
Eight gilt-bronze elevator doors translating Fred French's four business pillars into a sculptural language drawn from ancient Mesopotamia. - When Babylon Met Fifth Avenue — Ives & Glinsky's Fred French Building, 1927 (forthcoming)
One architect's obsession with ancient Babylon. One sculptor's mastery in bronze. A New York landmark unlike any other.
Leading sculptor: Lee Lawrie — Color program: Leon V. Solon
Browse the New York City Art Deco Archive
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The Scholar Elevator Panel — Fred French Building, New York, 1927
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Art Deco Allegory of Effort — Gilded Grille, Chanin Building, New York, 1929
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The Empire State Relief — A Machine Age Altar, NYC, 1931 — Oscar Bach
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Wisdom — 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, 1933 — Lee Lawrie
€95.00
