When you see something that is not right, not fair, find a way to get in the way and cause trouble.
Congressman John Lewis
JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG
WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM. Winner of the prestigious Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award.
Saturday, August 29, 2026
RUMPOLE SHRUGGED
So did Atlas
3 comments:
Anonymous
said...
That is Atlas, one of the most famous pieces of Art Deco public sculpture in New York City. Your photograph shows it at Rockefeller Center, at the entrance to the International Building on Fifth Avenue, directly across from St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The sculpture was created by Lee Lawrie, working with sculptor and architectural modeler René Paul Chambellan, and was installed in 1937. It was cast in bronze by the Roman Bronze Works in New York. What Atlas is actually holding The most interesting thing about the sculpture is that Atlas is not holding the Earth. In Greek mythology, Atlas was condemned by Zeus to support the heavens, not the planet. Lawrie therefore placed an enormous armillary sphere on Atlas's shoulders—a model of the celestial heavens made from intersecting rings. The rings include the twelve signs of the zodiac, and the north-south axis of the sphere was deliberately oriented so that it points toward the North Star as viewed from New York City. That enormous circular structure in your photograph is therefore astronomical as well as artistic.
It is much larger than the photograph suggests The sculpture is enormous. The figure of Atlas himself is approximately 15 feet tall. The armillary sphere is approximately 21 feet in diameter, and the entire composition—from the base to the top of the sphere—is approximately 45 feet high, roughly the height of a four-story building. The bronze sculpture weighs approximately seven tons (14,000 pounds). Interestingly, the original plaster model had to be cut into 69 pieces so that Roman Bronze Works could cast it. The bronze pieces were then welded into 12 large sections and ultimately assembled into the sculpture you photographed. The pose is intentional One thing I particularly like about your photograph is that you can clearly see how Lawrie depicted Atlas. He isn't standing comfortably underneath the heavens. His knees are bent, his body is twisted, and virtually every muscle appears to be under tremendous tension. He's straining under the weight. That makes Atlas a symbol not merely of physical strength, but of endurance, responsibility and carrying an enormous burden. That symbolism is one reason the sculpture has become such an iconic image. There's also a wonderful Art Deco quality to it. Instead of making Atlas look like a naturalistic classical Greek statue, Lawrie made the body extremely muscular, angular and almost architectural. The huge geometric circles above him contrast with the human figure underneath them. An interesting historical detail The astronomical accuracy wasn't accidental. Contemporary reporting from 1937 noted that Lawrie's son Milton Lawrie, an architect and serious amateur astronomer, assisted his father with the astronomical aspects of the celestial sphere. Even at the time of its unveiling, reporters noted that its axis pointed toward Polaris. And there is another neat detail visible only if you study the sphere carefully: the celestial rings contain not only zodiac imagery but astronomical/planetary symbolism.
Atlas and Prometheus There is also an intentional-feeling relationship—though apparently not a coordinated one—between Atlas and the other famous mythological sculpture at Rockefeller Center: Paul Manship's golden Prometheus overlooking the skating rink. Prometheus and Atlas were brothers in Greek mythology. Yet a 1937 New Yorker account reported that the sculptors had not coordinated their choices of subjects; Rockefeller Center said it was essentially a coincidence that the complex ended up with monumental sculptures of the two brothers. So if you walk from the sculpture in your photograph into Rockefeller Center, you're effectively walking from Atlas carrying the heavens to Prometheus bringing fire to mankind. There is quite a bit more symbolism hidden in this sculpture—particularly what each of the rings represents, the zodiac symbols, and why Atlas was positioned directly opposite St. Patrick's Cathedral. That part of the story is especially interesting.
3 comments:
That is Atlas, one of the most famous pieces of Art Deco public sculpture in New York City. Your photograph shows it at Rockefeller Center, at the entrance to the International Building on Fifth Avenue, directly across from St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
The sculpture was created by Lee Lawrie, working with sculptor and architectural modeler René Paul Chambellan, and was installed in 1937. It was cast in bronze by the Roman Bronze Works in New York.
What Atlas is actually holding
The most interesting thing about the sculpture is that Atlas is not holding the Earth.
In Greek mythology, Atlas was condemned by Zeus to support the heavens, not the planet. Lawrie therefore placed an enormous armillary sphere on Atlas's shoulders—a model of the celestial heavens made from intersecting rings. The rings include the twelve signs of the zodiac, and the north-south axis of the sphere was deliberately oriented so that it points toward the North Star as viewed from New York City.
That enormous circular structure in your photograph is therefore astronomical as well as artistic.
It is much larger than the photograph suggests
The sculpture is enormous. The figure of Atlas himself is approximately 15 feet tall. The armillary sphere is approximately 21 feet in diameter, and the entire composition—from the base to the top of the sphere—is approximately 45 feet high, roughly the height of a four-story building. The bronze sculpture weighs approximately seven tons (14,000 pounds).
Interestingly, the original plaster model had to be cut into 69 pieces so that Roman Bronze Works could cast it. The bronze pieces were then welded into 12 large sections and ultimately assembled into the sculpture you photographed.
The pose is intentional
One thing I particularly like about your photograph is that you can clearly see how Lawrie depicted Atlas.
He isn't standing comfortably underneath the heavens. His knees are bent, his body is twisted, and virtually every muscle appears to be under tremendous tension. He's straining under the weight.
That makes Atlas a symbol not merely of physical strength, but of endurance, responsibility and carrying an enormous burden. That symbolism is one reason the sculpture has become such an iconic image.
There's also a wonderful Art Deco quality to it. Instead of making Atlas look like a naturalistic classical Greek statue, Lawrie made the body extremely muscular, angular and almost architectural. The huge geometric circles above him contrast with the human figure underneath them.
An interesting historical detail
The astronomical accuracy wasn't accidental. Contemporary reporting from 1937 noted that Lawrie's son Milton Lawrie, an architect and serious amateur astronomer, assisted his father with the astronomical aspects of the celestial sphere. Even at the time of its unveiling, reporters noted that its axis pointed toward Polaris.
And there is another neat detail visible only if you study the sphere carefully: the celestial rings contain not only zodiac imagery but astronomical/planetary symbolism.
Atlas and Prometheus
There is also an intentional-feeling relationship—though apparently not a coordinated one—between Atlas and the other famous mythological sculpture at Rockefeller Center: Paul Manship's golden Prometheus overlooking the skating rink.
Prometheus and Atlas were brothers in Greek mythology. Yet a 1937 New Yorker account reported that the sculptors had not coordinated their choices of subjects; Rockefeller Center said it was essentially a coincidence that the complex ended up with monumental sculptures of the two brothers.
So if you walk from the sculpture in your photograph into Rockefeller Center, you're effectively walking from Atlas carrying the heavens to Prometheus bringing fire to mankind.
There is quite a bit more symbolism hidden in this sculpture—particularly what each of the rings represents, the zodiac symbols, and why Atlas was positioned directly opposite St. Patrick's Cathedral. That part of the story is especially interesting.
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