Details
LEE CONREY (1883-1976)
SCIENCE PLANS A NEW TOWER OF BABEL SIX MILES HIGH
signed LEE CONREY (lower right)
gouache and graphite on paper
2734 x 10 in. (70.5 x 25.4 cm.) (sight)
Executed circa 1935.
Provenance
Norman Brosterman (b. 1952), New York.
Acquired by the late owner from the above, 2001.
Literature
"Science Plans a New Tower of Babel Six Miles High", The American Weekly, 24 February 1935, illustrated.
Norman Brosterman, Out of Time: Designs for the Twentieth-Century Future, (New York, 2000), p. 41, illustrated.
Exhibited
Tacoma, Washington, Washington State Historical Society, Out of Time: Designs for the 20th Century Future, 11 November 2000-7 January 2001; also, Lansing, Michigan, Michigan Historical Museum, 27 January-25 March 2001; New York, New York Historical Society, 14 April-10 June 2001; Laramie, Wyoming, University of Wyoming Art Museum, 30 June-26 August 2001; Fargo, North Dakota, Plains Art Museum, 1 December 2001-27 January 2002; Springfield, Massachusetts, 5 October-1 December 2002.
London, UK, Barbican Centre, Into the Unknown: A Journey through Science Fiction, 3 June-1 September 2017; also, Athens, Greece, Onassis Cultural Center, 9 October 2017-14 January 2018; Odense, Denmark, Kunstmuseum Brandts, 28 September 2018-17 February 2019; Rotterdam, Netherlands, Kunsthal Rotterdam, 16 March-30 June 2019.
Brought to you by
Christina GeigerHead of Department
A Christie's specialist may contact you to discuss this lot or to notify you if the condition changes prior to the sale.View condition report

Lot Essay

Lee Conrey's illustration was published in the February 24, 1935 edition of The American Weekly : a Sunday newspaper supplement that was widely circulated. The original caption for the image reads, "What science's new six-mile high tower might look like, with its slender shaft of steel and platforms at different levels for aircraft in peace or war, for hospitals to give the poor the benefits of mountain climate, for scientific weather observers, and with the world's greatest astronomical observatory in an oxygen tank at the tower's tip."

Related Articles

Sorry, we are unable to display this content. Please check your connection.

More from
Over the Horizon: Art of the Future from the Paul G. Allen Collection
Place your bid
Condition report

A Christie's specialist may contact you to discuss this lot or to notify you if the condition changes prior to the sale.

I confirm that I have read this Important Notice regarding Condition Reports and agree to its terms. View Condition Report