Visual representations of Atlas can be found throughout Chicago, though perhaps none rival the vividness of “city of the big shoulders” — the 5th line of Carl Sandburg’s poem, “Chicago.”
Throughout Greek mythography, Atlas is described as holding the sky on his shoulders; in Aeschylus’ play Prometheus Bound, Prometheus speaks of “my brother Atlas, who stands bearing on his shoulders the pillar of heaven and earth . . .”
Here are a few we’ve found. Do you know of a Chicago Atlas? Let us know.
Exterior, 520 North Michigan Avenue
(1) On the facade of the McGraw-Hill Building at at 520 North Michigan Avenue(1929). Note how the “T” in the chiseled name “ATLAS” also seems to be holding up the horizon, mimicking Atlas himself.
Exterior, One North LaSalle Building
(2) The One North LaSalle Building (1930), where Atlas is surrounded by various new and old modes of transportation. Does this toiling Atlas suggest at all the industrious, gritty city of Sandburg’s poem, “Chicago,” which includes the line: “Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler”?
comlare to bye atlas in Rockefeller center?
Plaque at 120 N LaSalle Street
Josh Buck’s “THE LOOP” in the lobby at 120 N. LaSalle Street
(3) In the lobby of 120 N LaSalle Street (1991) there is John Buck‘s sculpture “The Loop” which he describes as a figure with “broad shoulders” supporting signature Chicago buildings. The piece easily calls to mind Atlas, putting it in dialogue with Roger Brown’s vivid mosaic depicting Daedalus and Icarus installed in the same building’s entranceway.
(S.S.M.)