The ''World Trade Center Plaza Sculpture'', also called ''Cloud Fortress'', was a sculpture created by Japanese artist

Masayuki Nagare was a modernist Japanese sculptor, nicknamed "Samurai Artist" for his commitment to traditional Japanese aesthetics. He was born in 1923 in Nagasaki to Kojuro Nakagawa, the founder and president of Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. As a teenage ...

in 1972, located at the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

complex at the Church Street entrance to site's the primary internal 6-acre plaza. Having survived the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

, the sculpture was demolished during subsequent emergency efforts to access and clear the site.

Design

Measuring tall, wide, and deep, ''Cloud Fortress'' was completed in 1972 and depicted an abstraction of two pyramids attached at their bases and tilted upward. Although appearing solid, the work consisted of a veneer of black Swedish granite over a steel and concrete armature. Nagare incorporated a technique he called 'ware hada', literally ''cracked skin'' or ''broken texture'', to feature contrasting polished and rough faces.

History

The

Port Authority In Canada and the United States, a port authority (less commonly a port district) is a governmental or quasi-governmental public authority for a special-purpose district usually formed by a legislative body (or bodies) to operate ports and other t ...

allocated up to 1% of the

construction cost to the purchase of art for the complex, and established an advisory group to recommend and commission artwork. Completed in 1972, ''Cloud Fortress'' occupied a minor plaza between buildings 4 and 5 that gave access from Church Street to the large

Austin J. Tobin Austin Joseph Tobin (May 25, 1903 – February 8, 1978) was an American businessman who served as the executive director of the Port of New York Authority, the precursor to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, from 1942 until 1972. To ...

Plaza central to the complex of World Trade Center buildings. The sculpture survived the immediate attacks and

collapse Collapse or its variants may refer to: Concepts * Collapse (structural) * Collapse (topology), a mathematical concept * Collapsing manifold * Collapse, the action of collapsing or telescoping objects * Collapsing user interface elements ** ...

of the adjacent buildings, but was demolished several days later by emergency efforts to access and clear the site and provide a stable area for heavy machinery to further access Austin J. Tobin Plaza.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:World Trade Center Plaza Sculpture Destroyed sculptures World Trade Center * 1972 establishments in New York City 2001 disestablishments in New York (state) Artwork in the World Trade Center

Design

History

See also

References