The Westmoreland Museum of American Art has scored three new works, one of which was purchased and donated by Trib publisher Richard Scaife.
His gift, “Blue Hills, Taos, New Mexico,” is a pastel landscape rendered on paper by American abstract artist Marsden Hartley in the early part of the 20th century.
The Westmoreland also acquired two paintings at separate auctions: “By the Sea,” a 1974 abstract by Robert Gwathmey, and “Workers Entering a Mill,” a work from the 1940s by Roy Hilton.
Gwathmey and Hilton lived in Pittsburgh during different decades in the 20th century. Both taught at Carnegie Institute of Technology, now known as Carnegie Mellon University. During his time in Pittsburgh, the Boston-born Hilton exhibited his work in the 1933 and 1935 Carnegie Internationals.
Director and CEO Judy O'Toole says the museum had the unusual luxury of choosing from among six paintings offered by Scaife.
“We're extremely lucky, particularly with Mr. Scaife, in that he consults with us,” O'Toole says “This time around, he actually gave us an option of about six things that he liked that he thought would address gaps in the collection. It's really lucky to have an opportunity like that.”
Museums frequently have to restore, clean and frame donated works, which can cost thousands of dollars. O'Toole says they were spared that expense with “Blue Hills.”
“It's framed beautifully,” she says. “It's a gift that we didn't have to do any conservation on.”
An anonymous donor gave money for the conservation and re-framing of Hilton's “Workers Entering a Mill,” which will be installed in “Born of Fire: the Valley of Work,” a permanent exhibit in the museum's Barclay Gallery. The painting depicts a line of workers walking down a set of stairs and into a factory.
“By the Sea” represents a playful side of Gwathmey, a painter from the South. His social realist paintings of African-Americans often commented on the prickly ironies of segregation. The museum bought the painting at an off-season auction at Sotheby's New York.
The Westmoreland Museum's collection includes works by American artists of the mid-18th through the 20th century, including Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent and Winslow Homer. It was established as the Woods Marchand Foundation in 1949 at the bequest of Greensburg resident Mary Marchand Woods, who bequeathed her entire estate.
“By the Sea” is on view at the museum.
Details: 724-837-1500 or www.wmuseumaa.org
William Loeffler is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at wloeffler@tribweb.com or 412-320-7986.
