Prometheus (Manship)

Prometheus
The sculpture in 2013
Map
ArtistPaul Manship
Year1934 (1934)
TypeSculpture
MediumBronze
Dimensions5.5 m (18 ft)
LocationNew York City, New York, United States
Coordinates40°45′31″N 73°58′43″W / 40.75872°N 73.97859°W / 40.75872; -73.97859

Prometheus is a 1934 gilded, cast bronze sculpture by Paul Manship, located above the lower plaza at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, New York City.[1]

It was created by the Roman Bronze Works, a subsidiary of the General Bronze Corporation in Corona, Queens.[2][3][4][5][6][7] The Roman Bronze Works had long been a sub-contractor to Louis Comfort Tiffany's Tiffany Studios[8] which was then bought out by the General Bronze Corporation in 1928.[2][9][10] Under the ownership of General Bronze, the Roman Bronze Works produced some of its finest bronze artwork from sculptors like Paul Manship, Rene Chambellan, Gaston Lachaise and Lee Lawrie.[11][10][9]

The "Prometheus" is set against the west wall of a sunken plaza in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and what was once the RCA Building. It is visible from Fifth Avenue. The "Prometheus Fountain," with its attendant restaurants, ice skating rink (winter), has become one of the most visited and photographed places in New York City, and certainly Rockefeller Center's most photographed, especially around Christmas time with the lighting of its Christmas Tree.[12]

The statue is 18 ft (5.5 m) tall and weighs 8 tons.[13] It depicts the Greek legend of the Titan Prometheus, who was the son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Clymene, brought fire to mankind by stealing it from the Chariot of the Sun, which resulted in Zeus chaining Prometheus and sending an eagle to prey upon his continually regenerating liver.[14]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference roussel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b "BRONZE CORPORATION BUYS TIFFANY STUDIOS; John Polachek Again in Control of Metal Working Plant Which He Once Managed". No. Business & Finance. The New York Times Publishing. The New York Times. January 31, 1928. Retrieved December 29, 2023.
  3. ^ "John Polachek, An Industrialist" (PDF). The New York Times. Obituaries. April 18, 1955. p. 22. Retrieved December 18, 2023. In 1903, he became a supervisor of bronze manufacturing for Tiffany Studios. Founder of General Bronze Corporation Dies – Products Adorn Leading Buildings
  4. ^ Eidelberg, Martin; McClelland, Nany (2001). Behind the Scenes of Tiffany Glassmaking: the Nash Notebooks (1st ed.). St. Martin's Press. pp. 2–10. ISBN 978-0-312-28265-3.
  5. ^ "A Chronology of Louis C. Tiffany and Tiffany Studios". Tiffany Studios. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
  6. ^ "Tiffany Studios". The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
  7. ^ "Museum Archivist" (PDF). Archivists.org. Fort Worth, TX: Amon Carter Museum of American Art. June 2005. Retrieved December 23, 2023.
  8. ^ Gray, Christopher (December 27, 1987). "Streetscapes: Tiffany Studios; In Queens, a Remembrance of a Luminous Legend". The New York Times. Retrieved September 25, 2008.
  9. ^ a b Erler, Diana (August 19, 1928). "Creating a New Bronze Age". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. p. 75. Retrieved December 28, 2023.
  10. ^ a b Rosenfeld, Lucy (2002). A Century of American Sculpture: The Roman Bronze Works Foundry (1st ed.). Schiffer Publishing. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-7643-1519-0.
  11. ^ General Bronze Corporation (1946). "The General Bronze Corporation and Rene Paul Chambellan". Internet Archive, Columbia University. General Bronze Corporation. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
  12. ^ "Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony: Street Closures & Related Information". nyc.gov. November 27, 2018. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  13. ^ "Statue in Center Plaza: Giant Figure of Prometheus Set at Rockefeller Fountain" (PDF). New York Times. 1934. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
  14. ^ "Prometheus". Rockefeller Center. Archived from the original on April 28, 2014. Retrieved June 2, 2014.