During the first 35 years of the Carnegie International, from 1896 to 1931, the museum tracked every submission to what was then an annual painting show. Exactly 10,632 artworks were rejected. Drawn to this “complete list of absence in the museum,” Pittsburgh-based artists Lenka Clayton and Jon Rubin, with the help of a small team, … Continued
At age 8, Mel Bochner spent Saturday mornings boarding the trolley near his East End home, handing the conductor 8 cents and then traveling alone to Carnegie Museum of Art. It was 1949, and Bochner was headed to his weekly Tam O’Shanter art class. There he met creative kids from all over Allegheny County, and … Continued
Whether using canvas, ceramics, or textiles, today’s contemporary artists are rethinking what else a painting can be.
Reflecting a world in transition, artists use their stage to wrestle with the past and confront contemporary issues of borders, boundaries, and labor.
Nearly all of the artwork for this year’s Carnegie International is being created new for the exhibition—and, in turn, for Pittsburgh. Curator Ingrid Schaffner started her travel research in 2016, right after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, known as Brexit, and not long before Donald Trump was elected president. “International has … Continued
Since 1896, the Carnegie International has brought the world to Pittsburgh. At the outset, this recurring showcase of contemporary painting drew mostly from Western Europe and the United States. With huge shifts in the ways artists make work and where they are situated, much has changed in 122 years. The Carnegie International has blossomed into … Continued
John Kane helped build industrial Pittsburgh. Then, as a complete unknown, his work was accepted into the 1927 Carnegie International, making him the first self-taught artist to be recognized by the American art establishment. His muse: his adopted city.
For decades, Pittsburgh sculptor Thaddeus Mosley has been circling the wood to find the art within. And this year, a dream of sorts comes true as he joins the ranks of artists he’s always admired as part of the 2018 Carnegie International.
Once a year, curator Ingrid Schaffner delivers a lecture titled What Is Contemporary? She begins with a declaration: “I will never answer this, so come back next year.” Then she wrestles with the ever-evolving answer for the next 90 minutes. When Schaffner was named curator of the 2018 Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art’s signature … Continued