{"id":1904,"date":"2013-04-05T10:01:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-05T10:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=1904"},"modified":"2015-01-08T17:43:26","modified_gmt":"2015-01-08T22:43:26","slug":"the-carnegie-international-a-celebration-of-contemporary-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/04\/05\/the-carnegie-international-a-celebration-of-contemporary-art\/","title":{"rendered":"The Carnegie International \u2014 a celebration of contemporary art"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A painting of lightbulbs by Lisa Milroy, Oct. 22, 1991. (Photo by Andy Starnes\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Melting <\/a>
Melting wax heads in a glass case by Ann Hamilton. (Photo by John Heller\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Hollow <\/a>
Hollow wax heads that are heated and melted thought the floor, Oct. 24, 1991 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Chilean <\/a>
Chilean Claudio Bravo and his oil on canvas, Venus. Oct.19, 1982 (Post-Gazette photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Misoon <\/a>
Misoon Whang arranges dinosaur bones made from molds for work titled Lost Object, Oct. 15, 1991. (Photo by Andy Starnes\/ The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

The Carnegie International is the second oldest international exhibit of contemporary art in the world. The oldest is the Venice Biennale art show, established just one year earlier. On\u00a0Nov. 5, 1896, steel tycoon and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie opened the first Carnegie International in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

In 1896, Pittsburgh had no reputation as an art center. In the eyes of the world, \u201cit was exclusively an industrial center, from which little in the way of artistic endeavor could be expected,\u201d according to art historian Kenneth Neal<\/a>. At the time, a major yearly art exhibition was a popular idea in America, and most thought that logical venue for such a project would be New York, or Boston, or even Philadelphia. The fact that Pittsburgh became the home of the international exhibition was due to Andrew Carnegie alone.<\/p>\n

Carnegie aspired to attract the art world to Pittsburgh and to build a collection of the \u201cold masters of tomorrow\u201d (some 320 works have been acquired from internationals over the years).<\/p>\n

The man who said, \u201cSurplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community,\u201d believed in the importance of the arts.<\/p>\n

Ironically, Carnegie acknowledged that he himself had \u201cjust a little artistic sense.\u201d When asked to improve on a list of names to be carved on the Carnegie Institute\u2019s entablature, he complained that Perugino has been omitted and Rubens included: \u201cThe latter only a painter of fat vulgar women, while a study of the pictures of Raphael will show anyone that he was really a copyist of Perugino, whose pupil he was.\u201d Andrew Carnegie didn\u2019t understand art, he \u201cjust knew what he liked\u201d and was mainly interested in the social utility of art, believing in its moral mission. He believed that art was \u201cennobling, uplifting, at once an agent and an index of social progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through the Carnegie International he sought to introduce Pittsburghers to paintings by contemporary American and European artists, \u201cto educate and inspire the public\u201d and \u201cto spread good will among nations through the international language of art.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since its founding, the Carnegie International has expanded its scope beyond paintings and has become the most prestigious and important survey of contemporary art in North America.<\/p>\n

Over the years, it has featured works by Winslow Homer, Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore, Willem de Kooning, Camille Pissarro, Alberto Giacometti, Andy Warhol and many others.<\/p>\n

The Post-Gazette archives contain mostly recent photographs of art exhibited at the International: the ones that shown here date to 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The Pittsburgh Press photograph in the center is of Janis Schreiber of Shadyside, who got to \u2018feel\u2019 an inflated sculpture by Otto Piene titled \u201cRed Rapid Growth\u201d at the 45th Carnegie International, which took place in October 1970.<\/p>\n

This year, the Carnegie International will be held in Pittsburgh in October. The Post-Gazette\u2019s art critic Mary Thomas gives a\u00a0preview of it<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Carnegie International is the second oldest international exhibit of contemporary art in the world.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesThe Carnegie International \u2014 a celebration of contemporary art<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[948],"tags":[965,1252,989,994,1179],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/tumblr_mkr4ztVWxh1rr5swxo8_r1_1280.jpg?fit=1178%2C1560&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1304,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/10\/14\/home-of-the-carnegie-international-exhibition\/","url_meta":{"origin":1904,"position":0},"title":"Home of the Carnegie International Exhibition","date":"October 14, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"It all began in 1889 when real estate heiress Mary Schenley donated nearly 300 acres of land to Pittsburgh for the park that bears her name.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/tumblr_muivzyXYhV1rr5swxo4_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C887&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1030,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/01\/24\/artist-henry-koerner\/","url_meta":{"origin":1904,"position":1},"title":"Artist Henry Koerner","date":"January 24, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Henry Koerner was in his 20s when he fled Vienna in 1938 to escape the Nazis, who seized control of Austria.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/tumblr_mzu4bwkwTm1rr5swxo4_1280.jpg?fit=1008%2C735&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":681,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/05\/09\/joseph-c-fitzpatrick-pittsburghs-legendary-art-teacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":1904,"position":2},"title":"Joseph C. 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