Piccirilli Brothers Website

FREEING THE ANGEL FROM THE STONE

Part One: A Statement of Purpose

Eleanor and Jerry Koffler, providers of this website, are among a growing number of persons who are working in various ways to bring back into public awareness the contributions of the Piccirilli brothers, a family of six American sculptors, and to have them honored publicly in some permanent way.

We believe that some form of public recognition; a plaque, a renamed street, school, park or other means of public honor should be given to them. Famous in their time (1890-1945), they seem to be lost to the present. But their gift to New York City and this country is omnipresent, and as permanent as the stone they carved.

In 1921 an art critic wrote: "Interesting and important figures in the march of American sculpture at the present time are the six Piccirilli brothers, known from coast to coast in all large cities, wherever architects and sculptors congregate. Their work celebrates the natural bond between art and craftsmanship...the Piccirilli brothers have brought us from their native land the whole art and craft and science and business of "freeing the angel from the stone."

It is our hope that these pages will be of some help in regaining some of the fame that is justifiably theirs.

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