
Carnegie International
Timeline
When the
1999-2000 Carnegie International is unveiled Friday visitors will once again be left to
ponder the significance -- present and future -- of the 41 artists and their works
represented in various mediums. Meanwhile, heres a subjective and whirlwind tour --
emphasis on the most memorable participants -- of the previous Internationals, dating back
103 years.
1896:

James Whistler's "Portrait
in Black: Seņor Pablo de Sarasate"
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First Annual Exhibition opens in what are now
Carnegie Librarys Music and Art Rooms; 312 paintings from England, France, Germany,
Scotland, United States. First medal: Sir John Laverys stilted portrait "Lady
in Brown," whereabouts now unknown. Winslow Homers "The Wreck" wins
medal, joins Carnegie collection. James Whistlers "Portrait in Black: Seņor
Pablo de Sarasate," virtuoso violinist, 1884, is first Whistler acquired by an
American museum.
1897-1905: Annual exhibitions. In
1902, for the first and only time, the exhibition consists entirely of loaned works --
paintings spanning a 300-year period.
1906: No exhibition as the show
awaits a museum addition on Forbes Avenue.
1907: Henri La Touches large
bonbon "The Bath" (owned by the University Club) takes first medal; Thomas
Eakins "Prof. Leslie Miller," second medal. Henry 0. Tanners
"Christ at the Home of Mary and Martha" purchased.
1908: Thomas Dewings "The
Necklace," now at the National Gallery of Art, takes first medal.
1909: Purchase of "Portrait of
Mrs. Chase," by frequent juror William Merritt Chase.
1910: Sir William Orpens
"Portrait of the Artist (Myself and Venus)," originally "Me and
Venus," referring to cast in painting, wins first medal and is purchased.
1911: Pittsburgh-born and frequent
juror John White Alexander takes first medal for "Sunlight," Art Institute of
Chicago.
1913: Three ho-hum purchases from
this annual are later deaccessioned (removed for the purpose of selling).
1914-19: World War I interrupts
annuals.
1920: Five Auguste Rodin sculptures
and John Singer Sargents "Venetian Interior" purchased. Also Claude
Monets "Water Lilies Beneath the Bridge," 1899 (deaccessioned, 1951).
Shows European section travels for first time to many other American museums. The
show (or parts of it) tours intermittently through 1982.
1921: Director John W. Beatty
organizes 20th International (his last) with Homer Saint-Gaudens.
1922: Three purchases, one by first
medalist John Lavery; they are later deaccessioned.
1923: Arthur B. Davies wins first
medal; Eugene Speicher, second; Pierre Bonnard, third; Maurice Denis, honorable mention.
1924: Malcolm Parcell, Washington,
Pa., takes honorable mention, popular prize. (The popular prize was determined by a poll
of exhibition visitors.)
1925: Parcell again wins popular
prize.
1927: Henri Matisses
"Still Life" wins first prize; G. David Thompson gives John Kanes
"Scene from the Scottish Highlands" to the Carnegie.
1928: Andre Derains
"Still Life" wins first prize and is purchased.
1929: William J. Glackens
"Bathers, Isle Adam," second prize.

Pablo Picasso
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1930: Pablo Picassos
"Mme. Picasso," private collection, receives first prize. Matisse is one of six
jurors.
1931: International has record 496
paintings; Philadelphian Franklin C. Watkins "Suicide in Costume" stirs
public debate.
1932: Depression curtails show.
1933: Exhibited are 351 paintings;
no purchases.
1934: Public reacts skeptically to
controversial first prize-winner Peter Blumes surrealistic "South of
Scranton," now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Its dreamlike quality, with figures
of men floating in the air, made it harder to grasp.
1935: Carnegie buys Leon
Krolls "Morning on the Cape"; Maurice de Vlamincks still life
"Flowers" wins Garden Club Prize, an award long since discontinued.
1936: Krolls "The Road
from the Cove" wins first prize; Pierre Bonnard, second prize.
1937: Georges Braques
"The Yellow Cloth (The Yellow Tablecloth)," private collection, wins first
prize; mourned by Pittsburgh modernists for not being purchased here.
1938: Carnegie buys James
Ensors "The Tribulations of St. Anthony," 1894, and popular prize,
Frederick J. Waughs "Pounding Surf"; latter deaccessioned, 1954.
1939: Carnegie buys Georges
Rouaults "The Old King," for years its most borrowed work. Popular prize:
Luigi Luccionis "Ethel Waters."
1940-49: "Painting in the
United States," nine shows of 330 or more works, replace International during World
War II and after. Organized by Saint-Gaudens, who enters service, and curator John
OConnor Jr. Andrew Wyeth wins second prize with "Christina Olsen," 1948.
1950: International resumes. Jacques
Villons "The Thresher" wins first prize; Priscilla Roberts
ultra-realist "Self-Portrait," third prize; Peter Blumes "The
Rock," popular prize.
1952: Gordon Bailey Washburns
first International, with 305 paintings from 24 countries, five from Latin America, leans
toward abstraction. Ben Nicholson, first prize; Marcel Gromaire, second; Rufino Tamayo,
third.
1955: 328 paintings from 23
countries. G. David Thompson one of five jurors, plus artists Ben Shahn and the curiously
named Afro, an Italian artist who latched onto that name long before it became synonymous
with a hairstyle.
1958: 367 paintings, 127 sculptures.
Jurors include Marcel Duchamp and actor/art enthusiast Vincent Price. Leon A. Arkus mounts
concurrent "Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings from Previous Internationals,"
95 paintings. Antoni Tapies wins first prize for marble dust painting. It later falls off
substrate; Tapies repairs it. G. David Thompson gives Henry Moores "Reclining
Figure" (second-prize sculpture) to Carnegie and Alexander Calders
"Pittsburgh" mobile (first-prize sculpture) to Pittsburgh International Airport.
1961: 329 paintings, 116 sculptures
from 29 countries. Seven solo shows by Pierre Alechinsky, Reg Butler, Alan Davie, Richard
Diebenkorn, Grace Hartigan, Carl-Henning Pedersen, David Smith adds 56 paintings, 22
sculptures. Mark Tobey, first prize painting; Alberto Giacometti, first-prize sculpture;
Carnegie acquires both.

Gustave von
Groschwitz
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1964: Gustave von Groschwitz
organizes 292 paintings, 109 sculptures from 35 countries. Six equal cash awards given
this year. Carnegie acquires Jean Arps "Sculpture Classique," paintings by
Antonio Saura, Pierre Soulages.
1967: Von Groschwitz organizes 221
paintings, 108 sculptures. Among those winning awards are Joseph Albers, Francis Bacon,
Joan Miro and Victor Vasarely. Louise Nevelson one of three jurors.
1970: Leon A. Arkus selects 267
paintings and sculptures from 26 countries, including Russia, Ukraine. No prizes.
1977-79: Arkus institutes Pittsburgh
International Series: Pierre Alechinsky, 134 works (1977); Eduardo Chillida, 67
sculptures; Willem de Kooning, 164 paintings, 34 drawings, 25 sculptures (1979).
1982: Regular exhibition restored,
renamed Carnegie International. Invited critics denounce works curator Gene Baro selects
for director John R. Lane. No prizes. Show, rejected by two Australian museums, travels to
Seattle.
1985: Curator John Caldwell and
director John R. Lane organize 137 works from six countries. Richard Serra, Anselm Kiefer
share Carnegie Prize. Their works join Carnegie.
1988: Curator Caldwell solos on 114
works from 11 countries. German sculptor Rebecca Horn wins Carnegie Prize for
environmental installation, "The Hydra Forest."
1991: Curator Mark Francis, arts
writer Lynne Cooke select 219 works geared to Carnegie museum, library resources. Ann
Hamiltons environment installation is hit. On Kawaras painting series wins
Carnegie Prize. Four or more site-specific works appear around city.
1995: Curator Richard Armstrong
organizes 215 works from 16 countries. Prize-winners: American sculptor Richard
Artschwager, German painter Sigmar Polke.
1999: Curator
Madeleine Grynsztejn selects 41 artists and paintings, sculpture, photography, mixed
media, film and video installations from around globe. Dates: Nov. 6, 1999-March 26, 2000.
-- Compiled by Donald Miller, Post-Gazette senior editor
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