BisonwerksTumblr

[leelawrie-blog]

If you love Art Deco, see what Lee Lawrie, the creator of the Atlas at Rockefeller Center was working on for fourteen years before Atlas came along. He mixes Art Deco with Prairie Regionalism iconography, and the results are astonishing.

[artdecoblog]

1 - Sound (1933, Lee Lawrie) - GE Building, Rockefeller Center, New York.

2 - Progress (1937, Lee Lawrie) - 1 Rockefeller Plaza, New York.

3 - Light (1933, Lee Lawrie) - GE Building, Rockefeller Center, New York.

4 - Wisdom (1933, Lee Lawrie) - GE Building, Rockefeller Center, New York.

[danismm]

Pennsylvania RR 1949 ad

[thebeautyofbecoming]

[diananock]

Aw, yeah, that’s the good shit.

[midnightruin]

I love abandoned ruins so much

[signalrun-deactivated20190312]

the world taken back by nature is my aesthetic

[oldshowbiz]

Art Deco Personified

[californiagothic]

Art deco tiles displayed at the entrance of Cliftons cafeteria in Los Angeles

[leelawrie-blog]

From Tumblr

[leelawrie-blog]

In years of studying architectural history, especially with regard to the architectural-sculptural legacy of Lee Lawrie, I'd never known there was a word for this phenomenon. This verb originates from an 19th Century architect that remodeled St. Alban's Church, with a complete disregard for its architectural history and character. Since most people have no clue who Lee Lawrie was, modern architects have demolished at least several of his most significant works. For example, his "Well of Scribes," used to sit at the bottom of the reflecting ponds on the Los Angeles Public Library. But in the 1970s, it was scraped to create a parking lot on the west lawn of the building, and there's apparently no record of what happened to it. The efforts by some to have the entire library demolished led to the creation of the Los Angeles Conservancy, that ultimately prevailed in preserving this landmark building. But other sites haven't been so lucky. The Wichita Institute of Art had built a gorgeous Art Deco building, and Lawrie had created multiple Native American inspired designs, of warriors, women grinding corn, Deco bison heads, and so on. They build a brand new building around the old, either destroying or permanently encapsulating the old exterior of the building, replacing it with an International Style amalgam of windows and red brick. And Caltech remodeled Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue's High Volts Laboratory sometime around 1960, completely obliterating a massive relief on its facade, depicting 2 ancient Greek/Deco looking figure, flanking either side of a giant electric dynamo. My mission in life has been to call attention to Lawrie's works, so that no other Future Grimthorpes will destroy any more of it. See some of these lost works at my website, www.leelawrie.com.

[leelawrie-blog]

Moses and Akhnaton. Part of the series designed by Nebraska-born, Columbia PH. D, Harley Burr Alexander, illustrating the great Lawgivers of Western Civilization, created by Lee Lawrie, and carved–in-situ, by the Eduardo Ardolino company; who executed (actually didi the carving) for many Lawrie’s works on American Buildings in the early 1900s.

These two remarkable chaps are featured on the South Facade of the Nebraska State Capitol.

These guys appear in my forthcoming book, Lee Lawrie’s Prairie Deco: History in Stone at the Nebraska State Capitol, 4th Edition.

The book is due out around Labor Day, 2017.

If you want to see all the sculpture, by the same guy that created the mighty Atlas at Rockefeller Center, and architectural sculpture from coast-to-coast and beyond, look for it on Amazon then.

If you want to pre-order it, let me know–info at leelawrie dot com.

[leelawrie-blog]

The Ages of Man, by Lee Lawrie in the Great Hall of the Nebraska State Capitol. These appear in my new book, "Lee Lawrie's Prairie Deco: History in Stone at the Nebraska State Capitol, 4th Edition, due out 9-1-17. #lee lawrie

[leelawrie-blog]

Various Art Deco Owls by Lee Lawrie.

[leelawrie-blog]

Proposed cover for my Second book on the sculpture of Lee Lawrie, "Passing Torches: Lee Lawrie's Art Deco Sculpture the Los Angeles Public Library." Due out this fall.

[leelawrie-blog]

"Morning and Evening" the former Dime Savings Bank, Downtown Brooklyn, NY. "The youth laces up his sandals for the day, whole the old man relaxes for the evening." By Lee Lawrie, circa 1930.

[leelawrie-blog]

The cover of my new book on Lee Lawrie’s Prairie Deco: History in Stone at the Nebraska State Capitol, 4th Edition, due out by September. It illustrates ALL of Lawrie’s Sculpture at the Capitol, inside, and out, and explains all of the symbolism, stories and histories behind these works.

Lawrie was an architectural sculptor for 70 years, first apprenticing under the foremost sculptors of the era at Chicago’s 1893 Columbian Exposition, up through his final works at West Point, at the time of his death in 1963.

This cornucopia of sculpture was his largest commission of that career, that ran some 70 years, and on which he spent some 14 years in creating it.

Let me know if you’re interested in it. Due out by September '17, on Amazon or through my website, LeeLawrie.com

[leelawrie-blog]

For the past 6 years, I've been updating my 2011 book, Lee Lawries's Prairie Deco: History in Stone at the Nebraska State Capitol, 3rd Edition. Finally, my publishing team at Concierge Marketing has sent me the galley of the all, new 4th edition, that has been totally re-edited, de-constructed and re-constructed in a fresh layout, with new archival photos, showing the actual sculptors at work, carving the sculptures carving literally tons of the new sculpture as it was being carved into the building. Plus, some of the original models for the works that evolved some before they were literally set in stone. I've also added chapters featuring new discoveries I've made of Lawrie's work at Boy's Town, Pasadena, his first commission, of a life-sized bronze statue of a small town Amsterdam, NY priest, from 1897, done when he was barely 20 years old. And the coolest discovery I made, where I met and got to interview his last living studio assistant, now 95. The book will be out on Amazon.com, or through my site, LeeLawrie.com, by September. It's grown from the 163 pages of the 3rd edition, that had some 275 images of his work, to around 260 or so pages now, with nearly 350 illustrations in the 4th Edition. Let me know if you are interested in it.

[art-decodence]

Westinghouse Electronics from what I can only guess is from a World’s Fair, but correct me if I am wrong. And a couple of pictures of their awesome looking fans.

[leelawrie-blog]

I've got a metallic finish tan one.

[art-decodence]

Some of the impressive art work of art deco period artist, Leslie Ragan. Her use of perspective, lines, color, and shading are some of the styling cues that make her a quintessential art deco period artist. These images are form her New York Central System line. Leslie Ragan, 1897-1972.

[graydog58]

Streamline Moderne Municipal Auditorium- David City NE

[leelawrie-blog]

Check this: David City, NE!