One of the most celebrated sculptors of his time, Gaston Lachaise enjoyed strong support from Abby and Nelson Rockefeller. Commissioned to create two works for Rockefeller Center, Lachaise also completed a number of sculptures for individual collectors including Man (Gregory Slader, Athlete), which was created for architect Philip L. Goodwin. Goodwin asked Lachaise to render the male nude and provided his 19-year-old assistant Gregory Slader as the model. Lachaise executed several portraits of Slader including a marble Statue of Youth, a small bronze statuette of a boy holding a ball called the Baseball Player, and this large idealized bronze, which was first exhibited in Gaston Lachaise’s solo exhibition at the famous Brummer Gallery in early 1928.

On the Beach is a superb example of Hartley's work from the 1940s. Throughout his career, Hartley experimented with a variety of subjects including landscapes and still lifes and also produced works in a more abstract vernacular. His figural works of the 1940s are perhaps his most powerful and On the Beach is exemplary in its complexity. Here Hartley incorporates not only three figures rendered in Hartley's characteristically primitive and expressive style, but also a seascape and still life elements scattered on the sandy beach. He eliminates excessive detail to focus on form and color and the qualities of paint on the surface of the work.

In Vinum Veritas is one of a series of works featuring beautiful women that Diego Rivera painted from the 1940s onward. This particular painting depicts Lucy Douglas Cochrane, later known as C. Z. Guest, the American starlet, socialite and style icon. Unabashedly daring and fresh, Rivera’s rendering of the young woman is modern while alluding to classical antecedents. In Latin, “in vinum veritas” means “in wine there’s truth” and refers to the cup seen on the table in this work, which is a metaphor for frankness and abandon.

In addition to completing clay design models for various structures in Rockefeller Center, Chambellan was also commissioned to create a number of artworks that were positioned throughout this iconic complex. Perhaps best known for his towering Atlas sculpture, which was created in collaboration with Lee Lawrie, these ‘Birds in Flight’ plaques, designed for the Chanin Building in Midtown Manhattan, are emblematic of Chambellan’s Deco-inspired approach to modernism.