Art Review: Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Art Museum Offers Showstoppers and Discreet Gems Alike

Last week I had a strikingly, surprisingly good visit at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. I’ll write a profile of the museum, a distinguished yet unorthodox place, and review its great Joan Brown retrospective next week but, first, God bless Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie (1835–1919) started life as a poor weaver’s son in Scotland, immigrated to Pittsburgh as a teen and rose from bobbin boy making $2 a week to America’s richest man and the world’s most prolific philanthropist. As an industrialist, he’s best known as a steel magnate, but he also made a fortune in railroads and oil.

I’m writing from Pittsburgh at the tail end of my swing from Lancaster in Pennsylvania to Toledo, Ohio, and points in between. Here, Carnegie’s supersize philanthropy is everywhere, though I’ll focus on his and Pittsburgh’s dynamic art museum.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

Last week I had a strikingly, surprisingly good visit at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. I’ll write a profile of the museum, a distinguished yet unorthodox place, and review its great Joan Brown retrospective next week but, first, God bless Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie (1835–1919) started life as a poor weaver’s son in Scotland, immigrated to Pittsburgh as a teen and rose from bobbin boy making $2 a week to America’s richest man and the world’s most prolific philanthropist. As an industrialist, he’s best known as a steel magnate, but he also made a fortune in railroads and oil.

I’m writing from Pittsburgh at the tail end of my swing from Lancaster in Pennsylvania to Toledo, Ohio, and points in between. Here, Carnegie’s supersize philanthropy is everywhere, though I’ll focus on his and Pittsburgh’s dynamic art museum.