Overview

North Shore Riverfront Park is home to a public art piece titled Langley Observatory Clock which was created by nationally acclaimed artist R.M. Fischer.

Mr Fischer was selected by a committee of local art experts to design and install site-specific artwork. The Heinz Endowments and the Pittsburgh Foundation funded the program and installation was completed in August 2007.

Photo Credit: Charles Alcorn

Key Facts

Features

Langley Observatory Clock is the result of a public art program established by the Sports & Exhibition Authority (SEA) at the onset of the North Shore Riverfront Park project. The program sought to use public art as a means of reintroducing people to the rivers, promoting cultural activities and enriching the City's public art collection.

The SEA's Board of Directors appointed an eleven-member committee, comprised of local art experts, to oversee the program, develop selection criteria and award commissions. A Request for Qualifications was issued and nearly 30 responses were received. From the six artists that were invited to submit proposals, the committee selected R.M. Fischer to create a site-specific installation for the park.

Photo Credit: Charles Alcorn

Langley Observatory Clock

Langley Observatory Clock , standing over 21 feet tall, is made primarily of Corten steel and stainless steel. Attached to its main body are two stainless steel lanterns that extend outward. The telescoping “eyes” of the lanterns, held in tension by stainless steel cables, have illuminated blue and amber lenses like railroad switch lamps of yesterday. Below the lanterns a large triangular stainless steel trough theatrically illuminates the interior of the portal at night. At its zenith, a red aluminum clock hand circles horizontally, marking the passing minutes. The forked form of the minute hand, inspired by the confluence of the three rivers, is a streamlined vector connoting the march of time.

The title of the sculpture, Langley Observatory Clock, refers to the work of Samuel P. Langley.  In 1870, Langley, Director of the Allegheny Observatory, created the Allegheny System - a standardized system of measuring and disseminating the accurate time.  Langley used the observatory telescope and astronomical observations to set the time on a specifically designed clock. Using telegraph wires, Langley connected the observatory clock to a highly visible clock located at Pittsburgh 's City Hall on Smithfield Street .  By the end of the year, 42 railroads were provided a standard time through this system.

In his artist statement, Mr. Fischer writes that his sculpture: "celebrates the act of looking out over the river. The work is a response to the industrial history of Pittsburgh while simultaneously appearing timeless and looking forward.”

Photo Credit: Charles Alcorn

R.M. Fischer

Since receiving his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1973, R.M. Fischer's sculpture has been featured in numerous international and national solo and group exhibitions. Fischer's work is in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, (NY), the Museum of Modern Art (NY), The Brooklyn Museum (NY), the Dallas Museum of Art, Tamayo Museum (Mexico City), the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, (Kansas City, MO.), Fundacao De Serralves (Porto, Portugal), the Deste Foundation for Contemporary Art, (Athens, Greece), and The Carnegie Museum of Fine Art (Pittsburgh, PA.), among others.

Some of Fischer's completed public art projects include Union Square Colonnade, (San Francisco , CA.), Bell Harbor Beacon ,(Port of Seattle, Washington ), the Kansas City Sky Stations , (Kansas City, MO,) The Gateway Plaza Columns, (Cleveland Sports Complex, Ohio), and Rector Gate, (Battery Park City, NYC), among others.

Last Updated 2/1/08

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