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November 12– May 14, 2006
Treasure Room
The rise and fall of silver tea and coffee services and the rituals
surrounding them are at the center of Tarnished: The Decline of Family Formality which features 64 objects from 11 tea and coffee services created between 1814 and 1935 from
the museum's collection.
In the first half of the 17th century, trade routes to the East regularly brought tea
and coffee to the West. By the late 18th century, these beverages and the silver tea
and coffee services that were made to serve them were part of a domestic ritual for
upper- and socially mobile middle-class families. In addition to tea and coffee pots,
the silver service included objects like hot water kettles, creamers, sugar bowls,
sugar tongs, and tea strainers. By the mid-20th century, the rising price of silver,
growing informality in the Western home, and return of women to the work force, limited
the use of the formal serving of tea and coffee to special occasions. Toward the end of
the 20th century, silver beverage services were used mainly for sideboard display.
Ultimately, fine silver services were packed and stored out of sight, becoming
tarnished...a testament to their decline.
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November 5–February 26, 2006
The Pittsburgh Photographic Library
(PPL) is a collection of some 20,000 photographs of the city taken
between 1950 and 1954 that can be found in the Pennsylvania Department
of Carnegie Library. The PPL project was the brainchild of the Allegheny
Conference on Community Development, the powerful organization of
corporate leaders and politicians that dominated Pittsburgh’s
rebirth and redevelopment after World War II. The project’s
purpose was to use photography as a vehicle to educate the local
community and the nation on the program of civic improvements that
came to be known as the Pittsburgh Renaissance.
Roy Stryker, whose work recording the Depression, rural America, and the impact
of the oil industry worldwide had made him a dominant figure in documentary photography,
was recruited to oversee the project. He arrived in Pittsburgh in July 1950,
and established the PPL by recruiting photographers from his earlier projects
as well as young artists at the beginning of their careers. He sent them out
into the city to record its present and its future, its harsh realities and its
aspirations.
The photographs in this exhibition are but a tiny fraction of the thousands of
images that make up the PPL. Though few in number, they convey the richness and
complexity of the collection. They provide a record of our past, offering a glimpse
of the dynamic transformation of Pittsburgh at a critical moment in its development
and insight into the lives of its citizens.
The photographs on view in Witness to the Fifties are from the collection of
Carnegie Museum of Art and from the University of Pittsburgh Press. Generous
support for the exhibition’s presentation in Pittsburgh has been provided
by The Fisher Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation. General support for the museum’s
exhibition program is provided by The Heinz Endowments, the Pennsylvania Council
on the Arts, and Allegheny Regional
Asset District.
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November 5–February 5, 2006
Luke Swank (1890–1944) was one
of the pioneers of Modernism in photography. Although well known
in the 1930s, after his death he was largely forgotten. Swank became,
in effect, a missing modernist. This exhibition establishes his place
in the history of photography.
Swank found beauty in the grittiness of the steel industry, explored
the behind-the-scenes life of the circus, made portraits, transformed
mundane household items and industrial parts into interesting abstract
forms, examined historical rural architecture, and in his most mature
work, described urban life as only a visual poet could. What makes
Swank’s vision unique is the way he combined traditional machine-age
and social documentary subject matter with a dramatic and poetic
use of light, form, and the picture frame. While his images are crisp
and clean, they are less about specifics of place and more about
transcendence of place to universality of experience. They offer
an extraordinary look at the America of the mid-to-late 1920s, the
Depression, and the first half of World War II.
Luke Swank: Modernist Photographer was organized by Carnegie Museum
of Art. Howard Bossen, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan,
served as guest curator. The research for the exhibition and accompanying
catalogue was funded through the Intramural Research Grants Program
(IRGP) at Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.
The exhibition’s presentation in Pittsburgh has been made possible
by the Drue Heinz Trust and the Robert S. Waters Charitable Trust.
General support for the museum’s exhibition program is provided
by The Heinz Endowments, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and
Allegheny Regional Asset District.
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August 16–January 29, 2006
Mixed Doubles pairs works from the Carnegie Museum of Art's collection of canonical video works from the 1970s and 1980s with new moving image works by emerging national and international artists. Linked thematically, these juxtapositions allow poetic and formal connections to be drawn between works of different generations that share similar impulses in subject matter, technological innovation, and aesthetic investigation. Five pairs of works are being shown in succession; this fourth installment brings together the work of Bill Viola and collaborative artists Ryoko Aoki and Zon Ito, screening through December.
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October 1–January 15,
2006 Frank Lloyd Wright: Renewing the Legacy presents two iconic buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), America's greatest architect and a cultural figure of international significance. The Darwin D. Martin House (1903–1905) in Buffalo, New York, and the H. C. Price Company Office Tower and Apartments (1952–1956) in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, are currently being restored and their legacy reinterpreted in designs for adjacent buildings by contemporary architects.
An important example of Wright's Prairie Style, the Darwin D. Martin House (1903–1905) in Buffalo, New York, dates from the early stages of Wright's remarkably long career. Wright designed furniture and art glass for the principal house, as well as extensive gardens and several satellite buildings. Having suffered years of neglect, including the loss of its gardens, the Martin House is being restored to serve as a significant public attraction by the Buffalo-based firm of Hamilton Houston Lownie Architects.
After an invited competition involving five architectural practices, Toshiko Mori, chair of the Department of Architecture at Harvard, is to construct a visitors' pavilion to one side of the garden. Taking its clues from the rectilinear geometry of the Martin House, Mori's building has a funnel-shaped roof and sheer walls of glass. Mori's winning pavilion is presented alongside the proposals by Brian Healy Architects, Architecture Research Office (ARO), Schwartz/Silver Architects, and Office dA.
The H.C. Price Company Office Tower and Apartments (1952–1956) in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, is one of Wright's last realized works. It is a rare example of an organic high-rise, a small skyscraper structured about a central core: Wright thought of the building as a great tree. Most of the Price Tower has been renovated by New York-based architect Wendy Evans Joseph to function as an elegant boutique hotel–the Inn at Price Tower.
Joseph's furnishings, designed to complement Wright's original interiors, are also on view in the exhibition.
Pritzker Prize-winner Zaha Hadid has now been commissioned to design a greatly expanded Price Tower Arts Center at the base of Wright's freestanding tower. The London-based architect extrapolates the geometries of the site to lead visitors into a dynamic, horizontal, glass-roofed interior with terraces that open to views of the 19-story tower.
This exhibition tells the story of two Frank Lloyd Wright masterworks and of new, companion projects by internationally recognized architects inventively responding to Wright's historic legacy.
The programs of the Heinz Architectural Center are made possible by the generosity of the Drue Heinz Trust. Support for the exhibition has been provided by Mellon Financial Corporation. General support for museum programs is provided by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Heinz Endowments, and Allegheny Regional Asset District.
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