More than 30 years ago, Bruce Wolf began collecting prints, drawings and watercolors of Pittsburgh created in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Shadyside lawyer searched for scenes of Pittsburgh in its early, rural days and later in full-blown industrial throttle. Now, 27 of the hundreds of artworks he and his wife, Sheryl, have purchased are on view at The Frick Pittsburgh through Aug. 2.

“Hills and Mills: Pittsburgh on Paper” is a fine local complement to this summer’s main exhibition, “Rolling Hills & Satanic Mills: The British Passion for Landscape,” a visual feast that shows the lush countryside and industrial towns of Wales as rendered by Constable, Gainsborough and J.M.W. Turner.

Mr. Wolf’s quest began after he saw an etching, “The Valley of Work,” by German artist Otto Kuhler. He was at the home of another collector, the late Art Riley, who worked in the real estate division of U.S. Steel Corp. Mr. Riley collected scenes of industrial Pittsburgh and paintings by Western Pennsylvania artists.

When he saw the Kuhler etching, Mr. Wolf wondered to himself, “Who else did Pittsburgh?”

“The Valley of Work,” which is part of this exhibition, shows the Monongahela River and U.S. Steel’s Homestead Works with the city in the background. Done in 1925, the evocative scene feels otherworldly. Mr. Kuhler, who grew up in Germany’s industrial Ruhr River Valley, liked Pittsburgh’s topography and fiery blast furnaces.  He traveled all over the city by streetcar to sketch and paint.

As he began acquiring prints, Mr. Wolf contacted 30 dealers who belonged to the International Fine Print Dealers Association and asked them if they had any scenes of Pittsburgh from the early 20th century. Over time, he met the organization’s members and, on occasion, descendants of artists whose work he collected.

Nine of the artworks are by William Gillespie Armor, considered the most influential printmaker in 19th-century Pittsburgh partly due to his prolific output. An engraver and lithographer, Mr. Armor worked for most of the lithographic companies in Pittsburgh before forming Armor Lithographing Co.

Mr. Armor’s pen-and-ink drawing of the Edgar Thomson Works at Braddock’s Field is a standout and contrasts with his more bucolic rendering of “The Mill at Millvale on the Pennsylvania Railroad at Pittsburgh,” a watercolor he painted in 1860.

“Armor painted watercolors for fun and gave them as gifts to his children,” Mr. Wolf said.

Mr. Riley also told Mr. Wolf about Jean-Emile Laboureur, a French artist who did a series called “Ten Etchings From Pittsburgh.” The ones on view include a locomotive depot and a view from the Frick Building’s 16th floor. Mr. Laboureur sold his work to Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick. A second portfolio of etchings done in 1906 show the interior of a Pittsburgh steel mill. Laboureur was the first artist to portray work inside a steel mill as high art, according to Rina C. Youngner, (cq) author of the book “Industry in Art: Pittsburgh, 1812 to 1920.” 

Two of the most memorable scenes are color woodcuts. The first, “Night Rain at Pittsburgh,” is by Japanese artist Yoshida Hiroshi, who was from a family of artists. The color woodcut, done in 1928, shows a tugboat near the Seventh Street Bridge. The boat’s twinkling lights reflect in the Allegheny River while the city skyline rises behind. During the 20th century, Mr. Hiroshi played a key role in reviving the tradition of the wood block print so that it reached a wider, more international audience. 

The second image, a wood engraving called “Along the Monongahela,” was done in 1911 by Rudolph Ruzicka, an artist who came to America from Bohemia. This scene shows a tugboat under a bridge with a mill in the background. Wood engravings were a technique commonly used in 19th century publications like “Harper’s Weekly.”

“Wood blocks and wood engravings of Pittsburgh are rare,” Mr. Wolf said.

The work of Everett Warner is included. Along with Childe Hassam, Mr. Warner belonged to the Old Lyme school of artists in Connecticut. An American Impressionist, Mr. Warner taught at Carnegie Tech, which became Carnegie Mellon University. His 1925 aquatint, “Pittsburgh Steel Mills,” is memorable.

So is the work of one of his students, Ernest Boyer, whose 1933 aquatint conveys the grandeur of the George Westinghouse Bridge. Mr. Boyer’s wife, Louise, was also an artist, and her 1940 drypoint, “The Converter at Night,” is like an industrial sunrise.

“The bulk of the Boyers I got from the family,” Mr. Wolf said.

Marylynne Pitz: mpitz@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1648.

First Published: June 21, 2015, 4:00 a.m.