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Frank Brault | all galleries >> Cameras & Lenses >> Nikon P7100 > Atlas
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2011 Frank Brault

Atlas

New York City

"Atlas is a bronze statue in front of Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan, New York City, across Fifth Avenue from St. Patrick's Cathedral. The sculpture depicts the Ancient Greek Titan Atlas holding the heavens. It was created by sculptor Lee Lawrie with the help of Rene Paul Chambellan, and it was installed in 1937.

The sculpture is in the Art Deco style, as is the entire Rockefeller Center. Atlas in the sculpture is 15 feet tall, while the entire statue is 45 feet tall, as high as a four-story building. It weighs seven tons, and is the largest sculpture at Rockefeller Center. The North-South axis of the armillary sphere on his shoulders points towards the North Star as seen from New York City.

When Atlas was unveiled in 1937, some people protested, claiming that it looked like Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Later, painter James Montgomery Flagg said that Atlas "looks too much as Mussolini thinks he looks"."

Nikon COOLPIX P7100 , Best at original size.
1/50s f/4.0 at 18.1mm iso100 cropped RAW/PP full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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laine03-Jan-2012 19:29
No two boof heads are ever the same...though I do see a similarity in what the people were seeing in '37
Walter Otto Koenig03-Jan-2012 16:58
Very well composed image of this impressive statue. The people add scale to this. I also like the distorted reflections in the windows. "V"