Painting
- Description
- Second panel of a painting by Donna Glazer-Pressman titled Slash of Hearts. The painting features black paint on canvas with "slashes," or score marks, pierced into the canvas using a box cutter. Side by side, the two panels represent the Twin Towers.
- Historical Notes
- Donna Glazer-Pressman’s studio in Manhattan afforded unimpeded views of lower Manhattan and the World Trade Center. Although not in her studio on the morning of 9/11, she was deeply disturbed by the brutality of the terrorist attacks and the resulting loss of human life and civic security. In January 2002, Pressman channeled her emotions into the creation of a painting titled Out of This World. This oil-on-canvas piece depicts the Twin Towers surrounded by slash marks that were ripped into the canvas as an intentional feature of the painting’s compositional aesthetics. Based on this initial work, Glazer-Pressman created Slash of Hearts on the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
Curator's Comment
In a performance piece presented at Paul Rodgers Gallery in early September 2002, Glazer-Pressman took a box cutter and repeatedly slashed two canvases, painted black and intended to represent the Twin Towers, with score marks. Each of the nearly 3,000 individual slashes made into the stretched canvas represented a unique human life extinguished on September 11th. She titled the piece Slash of Hearts. Her use of the box cutter referenced the transformation of an ordinary, useful tool into a deadly weapon aboard the four hijacked planes. The paintings, as well as the recording of her performance, were acquired by the Museum of the City of New York that year.
In 2014, Glazer-Pressman proposed that MCNY consider deaccessioning and transferring Slash of Hearts to the newly opened 9/11 Memorial & Museum.
In 2014, Glazer-Pressman proposed that MCNY consider deaccessioning and transferring Slash of Hearts to the newly opened 9/11 Memorial & Museum.
- Accession Number: C.2015.62.1.1
- Dimensions: 84 in X 37 in
- Dimensions (Metric): 213.36 cm X 93.98 cm
- Sources: Donna Glazer-Pressman, Museum of the City of New York (MCNY)
- Credit Line: Gift of the Museum of the City of New York
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