Atlas statue description and photos - USA: New York (Topic)

Atlas statue description and photos - USA: New York. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Atlas statue.

Photo and description

Towering in Rockefeller Center, the bronze Atlas (or Atlas, as it is also called) is one of the largest statues in New York. Together with the pedestal, its height is 14 meters, more than that of a four-story building.

In Greek mythology, Atlas is a mighty titan who fought against the Olympian gods and for this he was sentenced to hold the firmament on his shoulders. The statue was sculpted by the American sculptor Lee Laurie, whose nature of work was consistently inclined towards Gothic, Boz-Art and Art Deco. Atlant, created in 1937, is made in the Art Deco style. Contemporaries criticized the sculptor for the fact that the figure of the titan allegedly had something in common with the appearance of the leader of fascist Italy, Benito Mussolini. Famous artist James Montgomery Flagg, who created the poster "I need you for the US Army" (with the demanding Uncle Sam), ironically suggested that Mussolini, of course, would like to see himself like this Atlas.

The figure is really impressive: exaggerated muscles, stylized outlines of a powerful body. On the shoulders of Atlant lies a six-meter armillary sphere, consisting of nested rings, symbolizing the celestial sphere. The armillary sphere was invented in ancient Greece by the astronomer Hipparchus, and before the invention of the European telescope, it was the main instrument for determining the position of celestial bodies. The north-south axis of Rockefeller's Atlanta points to the North Star. A wide, curved beam resting on the giant's shoulders features the traditional symbols of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Attached to one of the rings are symbols of the twelve constellations through which the Sun passes throughout the year.

The statue weighs seven tons and is the largest sculpture in the Rockefeller Center. Some time ago it was restored - over the past decades, many layers of varnish and wax applied to the bronze distorted not only its color, but also the shape of individual parts. The statue was cleaned of layers and covered with a shiny acrylic layer that retains the color of its natural patina.

This statue is considered a symbol of objectivism, a philosophical movement created by the writer Ayn Rand, an emigrant from Soviet Russia. Her most famous work, on which a film was recently staged, is Atlas Shrugged. The novel describes the rise to power in the United States of socialists, the transition to a planned economy and the subsequent collapse of the once flourishing economy. The book had a huge impact on the minds of Americans.

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Topic: Atlas statue description and photos - USA: New York.