Out of the Sky: Remembering 9/11

Artist Werner Pfeiffer (American, born 1937)

Date2006

MediumWoodcuts

ClassificationBooks

Credit LineMrs. George W. Stevens Fund

Object number

2010.55

Not on View

DescriptionThe images are pulled from the original woodcuts. Paper: Stonehenge, white, 240 lbs., Mohawk Superfine Cover, white, for the text insert, plus 2 ply Museum Board for the structural parts. Type: Handset, Univers, medium and light. The names of the victims are computer generated, alternately set in Arial Black and Helvetica, then made into relief plates for letter press printing. Of 52 signed and numbered copies this is No. 34

Label TextOut of the Sky: Remembering 9/11 is a tribute to the victims of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11, 2001. The artist who created this imposing memorial, Werner Pfeiffer, witnessed the second plane hit: “Almost immediately after the attack I started making notes, sketching out possible forms this tribute might take. Being both a sculptor and printmaker, I kept developing ideas in the form of a sculpture, as well as a graphic document. Since one did not exclude the other I kept pursuing a combination of both. Thus Out of the Sky: Remembering 9/11 evolved into a book with a sculptural component, or a sculpture in the form of a book.” Born in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1937, Pfeiffer immigrated to the United States in 1961. In 1969 he was appointed Professor of Art at Pratt Institute in New York and also became director of the Pratt Adlib Press. He began producing his own work as a sculptor, printmaker, and painter in the late 1960s often combining all of these skills in his artist books.Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Drawn, Cut, & Layered: The Art of Werner Pfeiffer, Feb. 6-May 3, 2105.