Painting
Photo credit: Donor provided
Accession Number: C.2019.104.1
Dimensions: 37 in X 25 in
Dimensions (Metric): 93.98 cm X 63.5 cm
Dimensions (Metric): 93.98 cm X 63.5 cm
Source: Samuel Kaplan
Credit Line: Gift of the artist, Samuel Kaplan
Runner
Description
Painting titled Runner by Samuel Kaplan (1928-2021). The painting depicts people fleeing from the dust cloud caused by the collapse of the Twin Towers. Despite the debris cloud depicted in the painting, the towers are still standing, with a fireball erupting from the South Tower and black smoke pouring from the North Tower. People falling are also depicted, as well as fluttering paper debris. The sky is a fiery yellow with only a small sliver of the bright blue sky visible behind the buildings.
Painting titled Runner by Samuel Kaplan (1928-2021). The painting depicts people fleeing from the dust cloud caused by the collapse of the Twin Towers. Despite the debris cloud depicted in the painting, the towers are still standing, with a fireball erupting from the South Tower and black smoke pouring from the North Tower. People falling are also depicted, as well as fluttering paper debris. The sky is a fiery yellow with only a small sliver of the bright blue sky visible behind the buildings.
Historical Notes
Brooklyn-based artist Samuel Kaplan portrays a scene with elements echoing those captured on the morning of September 11, 2001, by AP photographer Suzanne Plunkett. The photo, which was published in TIME and disseminated across various news outlets in the attacks’ aftermath, documents people running from the collapsing South Tower as a massive smoke cloud from the imploding building billows between the architectural canyons of lower Manhattan. In Kaplan's painting, titled Runner, Kaplan paints a dust cloud similar to the one generated from the South Tower’s collapse. However, in his version of the scene, both Towers remain upright, aflame, and spewing smoke from their upper floors. Falling bodies are silhouetted against the buildings’ silver facades. Additionally, Kaplan added lower Manhattan landmarks to his work which confuse the perspective, creating a composite scene. Similarly, he augments the painting’s foreground with the inclusion of a firetruck and a pair of dust-covered evacuees on the left.
Brooklyn-based artist Samuel Kaplan portrays a scene with elements echoing those captured on the morning of September 11, 2001, by AP photographer Suzanne Plunkett. The photo, which was published in TIME and disseminated across various news outlets in the attacks’ aftermath, documents people running from the collapsing South Tower as a massive smoke cloud from the imploding building billows between the architectural canyons of lower Manhattan. In Kaplan's painting, titled Runner, Kaplan paints a dust cloud similar to the one generated from the South Tower’s collapse. However, in his version of the scene, both Towers remain upright, aflame, and spewing smoke from their upper floors. Falling bodies are silhouetted against the buildings’ silver facades. Additionally, Kaplan added lower Manhattan landmarks to his work which confuse the perspective, creating a composite scene. Similarly, he augments the painting’s foreground with the inclusion of a firetruck and a pair of dust-covered evacuees on the left.
Curator's Comment
Samuel Kaplan was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, on July 8, 1928. When he was nine, he and his family relocated to Kyiv, Ukraine. With the outbreak of World War II, however, Kaplan, his mother, and his younger sister, Maya, were forced to evacuate to Orenburg, Russia, near the border of Kazakhstan. Despite the loss of much of his family during the Holocaust, Kaplan returned to Kyiv after the war ended, determined to finish his secondary schooling. Kaplan completed his course work at the Kyiv Art Institute (now known as the National Academy of Visual Arts and Architecture) in 1962.
Kaplan and his wife, Sofia, immigrated to the United States in 1991. Soon after their arrival, however, Sofia died of cancer and Kaplan moved to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, to be near his sister and her family.
Kaplan’s artistic style fuses fantastical elements drawn from his imagination with precise details of the urban cityscape. He passed away in 2021.
HIDE
Samuel Kaplan was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, on July 8, 1928. When he was nine, he and his family relocated to Kyiv, Ukraine. With the outbreak of World War II, however, Kaplan, his mother, and his younger sister, Maya, were forced to evacuate to Orenburg, Russia, near the border of Kazakhstan. Despite the loss of much of his family during the Holocaust, Kaplan returned to Kyiv after the war ended, determined to finish his secondary schooling. Kaplan completed his course work at the Kyiv Art Institute (now known as the National Academy of Visual Arts and Architecture) in 1962.
Kaplan and his wife, Sofia, immigrated to the United States in 1991. Soon after their arrival, however, Sofia died of cancer and Kaplan moved to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, to be near his sister and her family.
Kaplan’s artistic style fuses fantastical elements drawn from his imagination with precise details of the urban cityscape. He passed away in 2021.
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