Westmoreland Museum showcases the early painters of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh
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"Down the Allegheny," painted by Horatio S. Stevenson in 1892 is among the works on display at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art. -
John Donaghy raised questions about racial bias in paintings such as his 1883 "Three Balls for Five Cents." -
"Seascape, Magnolia, MA" is by Joseph R. Woodwell who died in 1911 and was remembered with 40 paintings in that year's Associated Artists of Pittsburgh exhibition. -
Works of Mary Ethel McAuley painted conditions in Germany at the onset of World War I. -
"The Wood Gatherer" of 1894 is by John Wesley Beatty who became the first director of the Department of Fine Arts at the Carnegie Institute, later to become Carnegie Museum of Art.
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The tranquil 1910 landscape "On the Cotswolds" by Will J. Hyett is pleasant and of its time period. The looseness of the artist's brushwork reflects the shift from realism to impressionism that had begun the previous century in France and was changing the look of painting.
Most interesting for Pittsburghers is that it hung in the first annual exhibition of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, which lays claim to being the oldest continuously exhibiting visual arts organization in the country.
The organization's landmark centennial year has been marked by numbers of exhibitions, and affiliated events, almost all featuring contemporary work by current members. "Associated Artists of Pittsburgh: Celebrating a Century of Art" at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art visits the formative years, presenting a look into aesthetics then prevalent regionally and nationally.
Westmoreland chief curator Barbara Jones assembled 69 works by 24 artists who exhibited in either the inaugural 1910 AAP show at the Grand Opera House Building, Downtown, (now the Warner Center), or the 1911 show, the first at the Carnegie Institute (now Carnegie Museum of Art).
Some of the artists, like Aaron Harry Gorson (1872-1933), represented by two quintessential impressionistic steel mill and river scenes, became famous. A painting and three etchings by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937), who made his reputation in Paris, illustrate his interest in religious subject matter. The magnificent circa 1905 oil "Christ at the Home of Mary and Martha" and two rich etchings are inspired by Christian tradition; another etching depicts "The Mosque."
Other artists have receded from notice and are re-introduced here, as with William W. Speer (1877- unknown) represented by three works -- a portrait in the museum collection, and rural and urban scenes loaned by private collectors.
Hyett's "Cotswolds" is the only painting that actually appeared in either of the early annuals. Still, the exhibition is representative of the art that members were making and of what jurors considered sufficiently accomplished to include. The first two shows comprised 425 works by 146 artists. Subject matter here embraces landscape, still life, genre, portrait and religious scenes.
First Published December 8, 2010 12:00 am
