Current Exhibitions

Neapolitan presepio
Through Jan. 7, 2009

Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes
Through Jan. 19, 2009

Giovanni Battista Piranesi: Architecture and the Spaces of the Imagination
Through Feb. 15, 2009

Upcoming Exhibitions

Past Exhibitions

Carnegie International

Neapolitan presepio
Through Jan. 7, 2009
Hall of Architecture

A must-see holiday tradition for Pittsburgh families, Carnegie Museum of Art’s Neapolitan presepio delights museum visitors of all ages. The presepio, an elaborate Nativity scene re-created with lifelike miniature figures and animals arranged in a detailed panorama of 18th-century village life, has its origins in 17th- and 18th-century Naples and southern Italy. Handcrafted by artisans between 1700 and 1830, the museum’s presepio includes more than 100 superbly modeled human and angelic figures, animals, accessories, and architectural elements, covering 250 square feet.The presepio is one of the finest and most complete examples of its kind.

Guided tours of the Neapolitan presepio
Free docent-led tours of the Neapolitan presepio are offered Tues.–Sun., noon–12:30 p.m., Dec. 5 through Jan. 7. Tours meet in front of the museum store.

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Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes
Through Jan. 19, 2009
Heinz Architectural Center

Long mythologized as a site of homogeneity and conformity, American suburbs have changed dramatically in the last 30 years, as growing numbers of minorities, immigrants, and non-traditional families make their homes there. No longer simply bedroom communities serving urban centers, suburbs have evolved into important generators of economic growth. While the subdivisions, shopping malls, and retail strips of suburbia give the impression of undifferentiated sprawl, they are only the most conspicuous elements of a complex physical and psychic terrain. Through works and propositions by over 30 artists and architects,Worlds Away explores the myths and realities of suburbs, provocatively exposing the fascinating layers of these deceptively familiar places.

Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes is organized by Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, in association with the Heinz Architectural Center at Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh. The exhibition is made possible by generous support from The Heinz Endowments, John Taft, and Home Depot. The programs of the Heinz Architectural Center are made possible by the generosity of the Drue Heinz 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.

Like the artists and architects in Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes, create your own interpretation of the suburban experience. Make a five-minute video showing what you think is great (and what could be better) about your suburb. Upload your video to YouTube and add the tag "cmoa-worldsaway." Entries will go on the museum's YouTube channel.

View Worlds Away programs.

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Giovanni Battista Piranesi:
Architecture and the Spaces of the Imagination
Through Feb. 15, 2009
Scaife Works on Paper gallery

In his stunning series of prints called Imaginary Prisons, 18th-century Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi created haunting, expressive, and entirely fantastical architectural scenes. The large-scale etchings and engravings—with their cavernous, gloomy chambers and labyrinthine corridors and staircases filled with unreal machines, enormous chains, and contorted prisoners—allow for an investigation of the line between architectural observation and the imagination. Prints from Piranesi’s series Views of Rome likewise demonstrate his tremendous skill at rendering perspective and creating complex compositional environments. Even in views of known locations in Rome, Piranesi frequently elaborated, exaggerated, and added imaginary devices or dramatic figural vignettes. Additional works by Piranesi and by his contemporaries and followers reveal the broad context of his career and his legacy. A selection of dramatic photographs by Clyde Hare of Pittsburgh’s Allegheny County Courthouse, designed by renowned architect Henry Hobson Richardson, offer a striking parallel to Piranesi’s fantastic designs. It is just one local example of Piranesi’s continued relevance to a wide range of artists and practicing architects through the generations.

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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