John: I went to one of my books for some information: "Rockefeller Center, Rheinhard and Hofmeister et al. Archs. 1931-1939. Originally a site for a new Metropolitan Opera House, the 1929 stock market crash left John D. Rockefeller holding a long lease for a project in which he had lost his other partners. A philosophy professor devised a scheme entitled "New Frontiers and the March of Civilization" , underscoring the role of international technological and business systems which was executed by 14 sculptors- including Lee Lawrie, Leo Friedlander, Carl Jennewein, Attilio Piccirilli and Albert Janiot- assigned to 60 individual parts. Rockefeller's wife, Abby Aldrich, seems to have been influential in introducing William Zorach, Robert Laurent and Isamu Noguchi as participating sculptors" "Sculpture 1900-1945" Penelope Curtis, Oxford Univ. Press, 1999 I worked on about 10 different reliefs. I remember one Lawrie work, there may have been more than one by him. I can't remember if it was on the RCA building. It faces the Ice Rink on the south side. it depicts a large, robust female figure, Pegasus and an eagle. All of the reliefs are carved from Indiana Limestone, the same stone as the building veneer. All are ploychromed in various degrees. At that time, Brisk Co. was re-pointing a large part of the complex and were required to utilize "sensitive" stone masons ( if you can put these two things together) to work on the sculptures. The complex had been re-pointed before. The original soft mortar had been raked out and replaced with an epoxy, hard as glass mortar. We new this because the sculptures had never been touched since installation. The original 1/4" joints between the stones making up each relief were never raked out and contained original mortar. On one, I removed mortar and found pieces of tightly rolled up newspaper, that an original mason had used as a sort of "backer rod". I could make out inforamtion about "DeSoto" car info. and Lou Gehrig's playing that day. That was fun to see and I eventually pressed the pieces behing glass. They look something like the "Dead Sea Scrolls" now. The joints in building veneer next to the sculptures had been over-cut during prior re-pointing campaigns, to widths as wide as 5/8'. We performed sensitive re-pointing and repaired missing anatomical parts of the sculptures with Jahn mortar and dutchman. Our work was followed by the paint conservators. Speaking of "workability", we had to sculpt the mortar in the joints to conform with the changing contours of the sculpture. We were required to use the same mix as was being used on the rest of the building and it was too sandy and not "plastic" enough to do what we needed to do. It was a struggle. The powers that were, would not hear of it. An early lesson learned. Lawrie executed the "Reredo" in St. Thomas Church, up the street from Rockefeller Center, at 5th Ave and 53rd st. That work is a towering wall of stone saints in niches and quite impressive. A bit old fashioned when compared to his work further south. My opinion of Lawrie, is that he was an in between sort of artist. He worked in a transition period, when sculptors in America were moving from executors of architectural and monumental work, to studio artists, creating personal works that would be sold in galleries to private collectors and patrons. This transition mirrored the change in architectural styles toward glass and steel and the end of the "City Beautiful Movement". Isamu Noguchi would be one of the sculptors who found early patronage at Rock. Center but was then able to adapt with the changing times. This visual history makes the Center an even richer place for me, besides remembering the time I went ice skating there with my first girlfriend Janice in highschool. That was a pretty sweet time too! My favorite works there are the Leo Friedlander nudes on 49th st., the Isamu Noguchi stainless steel relief on the Associated Press Building, the Gaston LaChaise relief facing the Noguchi and the Piccirili cast glass relief on 5th ave. Check them out sometime. Abby Aldrich(INelson's mother?), was the force behind the founding of the Museum of Modern Art. I guess it was unfair of Diego Rivera to paint John D. among the evil capitalists afterall. Respectfully, Nick M. _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus -- To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to: <http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>