BisonwerksBlog

Lee Lawrie Home

2012-01-11T21:51:00.000-06:00

Lee Lawrie Home

Just a note that my ebook is now available on Barnes & Noble's as well as Amazon.

Check it out.

Oil Well Construction Worker by Lee Lawrie

2011-11-04T23:58:00.000-05:00

Here is a detail of one of the figures on the facade of the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton
Rouge. The building was completed in 1932. Lawrie once remarked that Huey Long was one of the few men he'd worked for in his career that actually paid him promptly when the work was done.

Lee Lawrie's work at Myron Taylor Hall, Cornell University

2011-01-03T01:14:00.000-06:00

Here is a great photo of some of Lawrie's playful work on Myron Taylor Hall at Cornell, circa 1930.

Click to view it.

Another work of Lawrie's identified.

2010-12-23T14:17:00.000-06:00

I was reviewing one of the documents that I photographed at the Library of Congress in 2006 and noted a memorial there with which I was unfamiliar.

Lawrie's notes attribute it as being the Hubbard-Bell Memorial at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

While this appears on the Smithsonian's list of sculpture, it does not attribute the work to Lawrie. I emailed them today and hopefully will get a response on it soon, and perhaps credit for the discovery.

I am always excited when I find a new work of Lawrie's that I had never seen before. Especially when it is not attributed to him, and I make the discovery on my own.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Greg

2010-11-30T18:17:00.000-06:00

Shot last summer.

The Omah Livestock Exchange Building.

2010-11-22T21:13:00.001-06:00

http://www.omahalivestockexchange.com/

The Omaha Livestock Exchange Building.

Shot this last week. Beautiful building that they rescued and are now using it for apartments. Thank God they didn't 'doze this one too.

As a kid, I recall visiting Omaha with my parents, around 1960, just after they opened up Interstate 80. We drove up to visit one of my Dad's cousins. Driving past the Omaha Stockyards was an odoriferous experience for sure.

The link has a little history on it. We tried to go up to visit the building's famous ballroom, but it was closed that afternoon.

Lee Lawrie's Boys Town Mural

2010-11-18T16:17:00.000-06:00

Lee Lawrie's Boy's town mural. Circa 1949-50.

Lee Lawrie's Boys Town Mural

2010-11-18T09:03:00.000-06:00

In 1949 and 1950, at around age 73 or so, Lee Lawrie created this mural for Boys Town in Omaha. The mural depicts a floundering youth, who finds the help and shelter at Boys Town, and becomes a productive citizen.

Father Flanagan is pictured in the mural. This is a stitched panorama created from 22 separate images, stitched together using AutoPano software.

Santiago

2010-10-24T17:51:00.001-05:00

Last year, a friend sent these images of the Santiago monument that Lawrie did for the Gillespie House, in Montecieto, CA. This house was featured in the 1983 Al Pacino movie, Scarface. This work had surfaced and the owner was considering selling it. I can't remember what eventually happened with it.

Happy Birthday Lee Lawrie!

2010-10-16T09:00:00.001-05:00

Today, Nebraska will face Texas in a much anticipated battle at the University of Nebraska's Lincoln's Memorial Staduim.

Lee Lawrie worked on this stadium. As pictured above, Lawrie had designed a pair of Pairie Deco Bison to sit at the base of the flagstaffs on the East side of the Stadium, but for whatever reason, these were never built.

He may have been responsible for creating the emblems of the various universities that appear on the East side of the building, but more research is needed on that topic to confirm it.

Anyway, Lawrie was born as Hugo Belling in Rixdorf, Prussia on October 16, 1877, making this the 133 anniversary of his birth.

This portrait of him was from the 1920s, when he was in his early fifties.

Nebraska can take pride as well in knowing that the Nebraska State Capitol was also the largest sculptural commission of his 70 year career. And it has been judged as one of the most beautiful buildings in the modern world.

Lawrie played no small part in that, creating a series of sculptures telling the history of Law in the Western World, from Moses down through Nebraska Statehood. He also created portraits of the Nobles of Civilization, strung around the base of the transept or base of the Tower, The spectacular Guardians of the Law on the North Portal, The Pioneer Pane, The Lawgivers from Hammurabi down through Napoleon, as well as creating a host of decorative elements celebrating Nebraska's Native American heritage, both inside and out of the building.

So as you toast Nebraska's (likely but not certain) victory this afternoon, raise a glass to Mr. Lawrie, and thank him for his seven decades of vision created through his sculptures from Coast to Coast in this great nation, and beyond. See more of his work at my websites, www.bisonwerks.com and www.leelawrie.com.

GO BIG RED!

Lee Lawrie's Domains of Louisiana

2010-09-19T00:27:00.000-05:00

ouisiana has had several nations dominate it. First the Indians, then the Spanish, The French, The United States and the Confederacy. This panel above the south entrance of the State Capitol illustrates those domains.

Lafayette Cemetery, New Orleans

2010-09-19T00:23:00.001-05:00

Lee Lawrie's Louisiana Wildlife

2010-09-19T00:18:00.000-05:00

You have to look for these images that are on the twenty first floor, up on the Louisiana State Capitol. Racoons, Crayfish and a mink. By Lee Lawrie.

South Portal Louisiana State Capitol

2010-09-11T16:29:00.000-05:00

This is the South Portal of the Louisiana State Capitol, featuring Lawrie's sculpture.

Lee Lawrie's Woman Picking Cotton

2010-09-10T19:28:00.001-05:00

Here is an image of a woman picking cotton. Lawrie addressed the economic industries of the State of Louisiana, circa 1931.

Lawrie created the main entry portal, illustrating the industries and resources of the state. This was done at the same time he was creating the work at the Nebraska State Capitol.

More photos to come in the coming days.

Bayou Deco by Lee Lawrie

2010-09-07T23:23:00.001-05:00

Details of Lawrie's work on the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge

A Logger, pelts, an alligator, smokestacks and railroads. More to come. By Lee Lawrie.

Baton Rouge Lawrie

2010-08-29T01:40:00.001-05:00

Shooting these real soon.

St. Thomas Episcopal in New York City

2010-07-25T00:18:00.000-05:00

This is the WWI Memorial in St. Thomas Episcopal Church in New York, on Fifth Avenue a block from Rockefeller Center. Lawrie did both the panel above the door and the St. George illustration.

Lawrie's 1922 list of scuptures for the Nebraska State Capitol.

2010-07-24T14:19:00.000-05:00

Here is a list of figures that Lawrie submitted to the Capitol Commission in 1922 of figures and sculptural elements for the Nebraska State Capitol.

The Jewish Theologica Seminary in New York CIty

2010-07-19T22:15:00.000-05:00

The Jewish Theologica Seminary in New York City. One of Lawrie's lesser known works. It pictures the burning bush.

Myron Taylor Hall, Utica, NY

2010-07-19T22:08:00.000-05:00

Lawrie in Hawaii.

2010-07-19T21:44:00.000-05:00

The Bank of Hawaii contacted me a couple of weeks back and apparently have this bronze, and are going to restore it soon.

Lawrie's first commission

2010-07-18T18:19:00.000-05:00

In 1900, Bertram Goodhue built the Dorothy Sayles Memorial Library in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Lawrie did the sculptural panels on the building.

Dragonfly

2010-07-10T11:31:00.000-05:00

Here is a dragonfly that one of the Purple Martins recently dropped while delivering it to its young.

Its colors are beautiful.

New Hi-Res picture of Capitol Bison

2010-07-02T14:46:00.000-05:00

Here is a stitched, but not balanced picture of the west buffalo on the Nebraska Capitol Balustrade. Click on the image to see it in higher resolution.

This was shot in June 2010 on my recent trip home.