Customer Reviews

The Art of Rockefeller Center

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Built in the middle of the depression, Rockefeller Center became a part of and a symbol of America. The buildings of Rockefeller Center were not designed as the steel and glass monoliths of today. Art from some of the best artists of the day was incorporated into virtually all aspects of the building. The most famous is the statue of Prometheus delivering fire to the mortals of the earth amidst the waters of the Plaza. But there is much much more. There are the bas-relief stone carvings on the facade, there are murals, statues, even specially designed patterns for the carpets.

This book is the first comprehensive study of the art in the center. It is a large format, beautifully printed edition of the art as it is now, and in many cases historical photographs of the artists as it was being produced in the 1930's.

Ms. Roussel is the Archivist of Rockefeller center. To produce the book she had unprecedented access to the records and files of the center.

The publishers, in a neat marketing move, issued this book in two editions. The 320 page version and a much smaller pocket-sized paperback that was invaluable when I visited the Center in 2006. Without it I don't think it would have been possible to find all the exterior treasures on the twenty-two acre site or read Roussel's text about them.

This Art book is a vastly expanded comprehensive look at all the exterior and interior public art contained in the fourteen buildings and spaces. The idea originated with Christine Roussel when her company was commissioned by the Rockefeller Center to restore all the artwork and the excellent contemporary color photos (after any restoration) are by Christine or her designer daughter Dianne. What I particularly like about the book are the historic photos of artists creating the works that you can see today. There are so many of these that I assume the Rockefeller's saw the PR potential of fine art in progress and arranged for as much of this as possible to be photographed.

There are more than a hundred pieces of art from forty artists all in color and the very comprehensive text puts their work in context and in case you are wondering there is a full explanation about the destruction of Diego Rivera's fresco: Man at the Crossroads, which was to be in a prominent position on the main lobby wall of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Lee Lawrie contributed most to the Center with fourteen pieces and his Wisdom (Rockefeller Plaza) and Atlas (International Building) are now world famous. There are seven interesting historical photos about the making and positioning of Atlas in the book. Missing from the pages, I thought, were a few photos showing the various stages of construction of the Center, it took nine years after all. A page or two, with photos, of the various roof gardens would have been interesting, too (maybe there should have been an Appendix for these).

Rousell's book celebrates the public art of these remarkable New York buildings which are now registered as a National Historic Landmark. The book's production is first class (though unfortunately not sumptuous) with the photos in 175 screen on reasonable art paper. There is a slight editorial annoyance with a back page listing of the artists and technical details of their work, these really should have been presented on the relevant pages so the reader could avoid having to keep flipping back and forth to find out a bit of information.

The perfect complement to this book is Daniel Okrent's Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center telling in great detail how the Rockefeller Center was built.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

Rockefeller Center is one of the great Art Deco set pieces. It was conceived and built at the depths of the Great Depression, at the height of Art Deco and it's importance to the nation at the time is impossible to quantify. The art of the complex is arguably the most important assemblage of Art Deco artwork in the world. This book is a fantastic tribute to Rockefeller Center and all the artists and craftsman that built it. The text is highly informative, without feeling like an academic dissertation and the images are very well presented, though frankly there could have been more. I highly recommend this book to anyone with any interest in Rockefeller Center or Art Deco.

I enjoyed it, good and comprehensive photos, well written. I think i wanted more detail in the text but all in all worth what i paid.