The life of Lee Lawrie

Born Max Leo Hugo Belling in Rixdorf, Prussia, Lee Lawrie came to the United States as a child and found his vocation in a Chicago sculptor’s studio. His career would span Gothic revival, Beaux-Arts classicism and Art Deco.

Lawrie worked with Bertram Goodhue for decades and gave sculpture a central role in public architecture. From the Nebraska State Capitol to Rockefeller Center, his figures, doors, friezes and details joined art to the daily life of buildings.

Many of the images in this archive are more than a century old. They have been clarified where needed to make their details easier to see, without altering or distorting the original record.

Many of Lawrie’s official photographs were taken by R. V. Smutney, his original documentary photographer.