Carnegie Museum of Art showcases legendary black photographer Charles “Teenie” Harris

PITTSBURGH (AP).- Charles “Teenie” Harris had a photographic mission: going beyond the obvious or sensational to capture the essence of daily African-American life in the 20th century For more than 40 years, Harris — as lead photographer of the influential Pittsburgh Courier newspaper — took almost 80,000 pictures of people from all walks: presidents, housewives, sports stars, babies, civil rights leaders and even cross-dressing drag queens. Now, a new exhibit and online catalog is showing the depth of Harris’ work, an [...]

Teenie Harris, Photographer: An American Story at the Carnegie Museum of Art

PITTSBURGH, PA.- Teenie Harris, Photographer: An American Story, the first major retrospective exhibition of the work and legacy of African American artist Charles “Teenie” Harris, will be on view at Carnegie Museum of Art through April 7, 2012. The groundbreaking exhibition celebrates the artist/photographer whose work is considered one of the most complete portraits anywhere of 20th-century African American experience. Large-scale, themed photographic projections of nearly 1,000 of Teenie Harris’s greatest images accompanied by an original jazz soundtrack generate an immersive experience in [...]

2011 Pittsburgh Biennial Presents Nine Contemporary Artists with Strong Ties to City

PITTSBURGH, PA.- Carnegie Museum of Art’s contribution to the multi-venue 2011 Pittsburgh Biennial presents nine contemporary artists with strong ties to Pittsburgh addressing a broad range of subjects that touch on the idea of “work.” The exhibition runs from June 17 to September 18, 2011, in the museum’s Heinz Galleries and is organized by associate curator of contemporary art Dan Byers. The Pittsburgh Biennial at Carnegie Museum of Art feature both established and emerging artists who work in a variety of [...]

Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh Presents Paul Thek: Diver, A Retrospective

PITTSBURGH, PA.- Carnegie Museum of Art presents Paul Thek: Diver, A Retrospective, the critically acclaimed first major exhibition to explore the work of the legendary artist. Defying classification, Paul Thek (1933­­­–1988)—the sculptor, painter, and creator of radical installations who was hailed for his work in the 1960s and early ’70s—is the subject of an upcoming retrospective opening at Carnegie Museum of Art on February 5, 2011, and co-organized by Carnegie Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. [...]

Carnegie Museum of Art Director’s Choice Book Features Highlights of Entire Collection

PITTSBURGH, PA.- Carnegie Museum of Art announced the publication of Director’s Choice: Carnegie Museum of Art, the latest in a new series of books by Scala Publishers introducing readers to the collections of the world’s great museums through the unique voices and perspectives of their directors. Lynn Zelevansky, The Henry J. Heinz II Director of Carnegie Museum of Art, has selected 37 objects that not only “resonate intellectually and emotionally” with her, but also represent the nature and scope of [...]

Carnegie Museum Announces Acquisitions in Neoclassical and Contemporary Art

PITTSBURGH, PA.- Carnegie Museum of Art announce two major acquisitions representing the museum’s strengths in 19th century neoclassical art and contemporary art. The works are Terpsichore, Muse of Lyric Poetry, 1812, an exceptionally rare sculpture by Antonio Canova, a leading artist of 19th century Europe; and five works, which together comprise a single installation, by one of the most provocative American artists to emerge in the last decade, Gedi Sibony. “While Canova’s Terpsichore and Sibony’s five pieces were made in [...]

First Major United States Retrospective of the Work of Paul Thek Opens at the Whitney

NEW YORK, NY.- An artist who defies classification, Paul Thek (1933-1988), the sculptor, painter, and creator of radical installations who was hailed for his work in the 1960s and early 70s, then nearly eclipsed within his own short lifetime, is the subject of an upcoming retrospective co-organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art and Carnegie Museum of Art. Paul Thek: Diver, A Retrospective, the first major exhibition in the United States to explore the work of the legendary American [...]

Ordinary Madness Mines the Carnegie Museum of Art’s Rich Holdings of Contemporary Art

PITTSBURGH, PA.- Carnegie Museum of Art presents Ordinary Madness, an exhibition that mines the museum’s rich holdings of contemporary art to suggest an unsettling observation: that the ordinary is in fact laced with the contradictory, uncanny, and surreal. On view are a wide array of works that engage the everyday from various vantage points, illuminating the bewildering experiences we subconsciously accept as part of our daily lives. At the heart of the exhibition are the strengths, quirks, and unique history [...]

Whitney Announces First Major U.S. Retrospective of the Work of Paul Thek

NEW YORK, NY.- An artist who defies classification, Paul Thek (1933-1988), the sculptor, painter, and creator of radical installations who was hailed for his work in the 1960s and early 70s, then nearly eclipsed within his own short lifetime, is the subject of an upcoming retrospective co-organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art and Carnegie Museum of Art. Paul Thek: Diver, A Retrospective, the first major exhibition in the United States to explore the work of the legendary American [...]

Forum 65: Jones, Koester, Nashashibi/Skaer: Reanimation

PITTSBURGH, PA.- Carnegie Museum of Art presents Forum 65: Jones, Koester, Nashashibi/Skaer: Reanimation, two films and a digital projection featuring silent, hypnotic loops that bring to life different objects, images, and history, casting each in a new light. The darkened Forum Gallery will be animated by three artists’ works that draw on varied cultural artifacts: archival photography from the Great Depression (Punctured by William E. Jones), a centuries-old Italian folk dance originally created as a cure for poisonous spider bites [...]

Friedrich Kunath Creates a Salon-Like Installation at the Hammer Museum

LOS ANGELES, CA.- Like a favorite poem, Friedrich Kunath’s works poignantly yet playfully distill the fundamentals of human emotion—desire, loneliness, and anxiety—creating comically tragic scenes in which human beings try to find their way in the world. Employing an impressive range of mediums—drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, photography, and neon—Kunath continuously takes up such subjects as the solitary being in nature, the ebb and flow of time, the emotional poignancy of nature, and relationships and the heartbreak they can create. Kunath [...]

Imagining Home: Selections from the Heinz Architectural Center

PITTSBURGH, PA.- Home is a word dense with personal and social meaning, and one that conjures images of everything from a stately mansion, to an apartment building, to a child’s treetop refuge. More than simply a house, a home is at once the focus of domestic aspirations and the outward expression of them, however modest or grand. Tracy Myers, curator of the Heinz Architectural Center at Carnegie Museum of Art, realized that the Center is home to a remarkably rich [...]

Carnegie Museum of Art Announces Staff Promotions and Changes

PITTSBURGH, PA.- Carnegie Museum of Art announces two staff promotions and two curators sharing responsibilities of the chief curator. Dan Byers, previously assistant curator of contemporary art, and Amanda Zehnder, previously assistant curator of fine arts, have been promoted to associate curators. Zehnder, who joined the museum in 2005, has curated numerous exhibitions in the Works on Paper Gallery, including the current Caricature, Satire, and Comedy of Manners: Works on Paper from the 18th through 20th Centuries. Byers has been [...]

Carnegie Museum of Art to Show Tapestries and Prints from the Collection

PITTSBURGH, PA.- Carnegie Museum of Art presents the dynamic new exhibition Gods, Love, and War: Tapestries and Prints from the Collection, opening December 19, 2009. Highlighting a selection of six large-scale tapestries dating from the 16th and 17th centuries and 40 prints from Carnegie Museum of Art’s collection, the exhibition explores the historical popularity of tapestries as well as the patrons, artists, and studios that created the taste for tapestries. Charles Le Brun, designer (French, 1619-1690), Workshop of Jan Frans [...]