Painting
September 11, 2001
- Description
- Triptych titled September 11, 2001 by Murray Zimiles. The piece is an abstract representation of the rubble at Ground Zero with building structures, flames, and cloud-like forms representing dust and smoke. Ten dog figures that appear to be running toward the rubble are spread across the three panels.
- Historical Notes
- On September 11, 2001, Brooklyn native and artist Murray Zimiles was a professor at SUNY Purchase. His art practice was centered in a studio located farther north in Dutchess County, New York. Through much of his career he had created mysterious, often unsettling narrative paintings, frequently placing animals into his scenes and thereby intentionally confusing viewers about the reality of the artwork settings. In this piece, the aggressive canine pack emerging from Ground Zero is an allusion to the terrorist hijackers and how their actions had unleased "dogs of war."
Curator's Comment
Rattled by the proximity of his personal circle as well as his campus to two of the four shattering attacks that Tuesday morning, Murray Zimiles arranged to tour Ground Zero soon thereafter so that he could witness the devastation first-hand. The artist, haunted by what he encountered, channeled those feelings into an ambitious triptych that he titled September 11, 2001. The interconnected panels offer an abstract representation of the 16-acre site with its looming rubble pile. The palette is dark, generating an ominous, otherworldly mood. A damaged fire truck can be discerned in the ruins. Incomprehensibly, 10 stenciled dogs appear in the ruined landscape. In addition to the cathartic process of creating the piece, Zimiles felt compelled to formalize his response on canvas because, as he said, “One day there will be no witnesses left to tell of where they were and what they were feeling on that day in September. This is my testimony."
September 11, 2001 was neither the first nor the only work by Zimiles to probe human-engineered atrocity. In the late 1980s and 1990s, the artist had created works that confronted the horrors of the Holocaust and his own parents’ escape from religious persecution in eastern Europe. His oeuvre also includes reworkings of revered art-historical paintings portraying human suffering and catastrophe.
September 11, 2001 was neither the first nor the only work by Zimiles to probe human-engineered atrocity. In the late 1980s and 1990s, the artist had created works that confronted the horrors of the Holocaust and his own parents’ escape from religious persecution in eastern Europe. His oeuvre also includes reworkings of revered art-historical paintings portraying human suffering and catastrophe.
- Accession Number: C.2017.14.1
- Dimensions: 4 ft X 9.5 ft
- Dimensions (Metric): 10.16 cm X 24.13 cm
- Source: Andrei Zimiles
- Credit Line: Gift of Andrei Zimiles
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