Art Deco: Wisdom, A Voice From the Clouds, With Light and Sound - Rockefeller Center, NY, NY

Wisdom, A Voice From The Clouds, 
With Light and Sound
by Lee Oscar Lawrie

GPS: N 40° 45.527; W 073° 58.725

Short Description: 

The three part Art Deco bas relief sculptures Wisdom - A Voice From The Clouds with Light and Sound is located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York, NY

Wisdom

Sound

Light

Long Description:

This Art Deco style limestone bas relief sculpture was designed by Lee Lawrie and installed in 1934. Wisdom - A Voice from The Clouds is a 37' sculpture located over the central entrance door of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Wisdom, portrayed by poet William Blake's mythical figure Urizen, is depicted as a bearded man holding a compass. He is blowing away clouds, representing ignorance. With the compass he is scribing the cosmic forces and cycles of the universe.

The below is the inscription: "Wisdom and Knowledge Shall Be The Stability Of Thy Times" - a quote from the Old Testament Book of Isaiah 33:6. Below, Wisdom is inscribing a golden circle an array of glass blocks manufactured by the Corning Glass Works of Corning, NY.

Flanking Wisdom on the north is the smaller bas relief sculpture - Light - a nude female figure reclining among the clouds. Flanking Wisdom on the south is Sound - a nude male figure crouched down and shouting from above creating sound waves. Below Light and Sound are grids of glass blocks. There are, in all, 240 glass blocks.