Carnegie Announces Significant Acquisitions

Manga, or “humorous picture,” is a popular style of Japanese comic book art. The details of characters (eyes, hair, and other body parts) are exaggerated for comedic or dramatic effect. With the group of 50 Manga chairs, design firm nendo mimics the qualities of manga comics. The chairs are happy, distressed, embarrassed, and surprised. CMOA has acquired a full set of 50 1/10 scale models representing each manga chair, along with one full-size chair, Manga chair #49, designed with flopping arms resting humorously at each side.

–Rachel Delphia, The Alan G. and Jane A. Lehman Curator of Decorative Arts and Design

Lorraine O’Grady has been recognized as a significant player both in the fields of conceptual art and feminist art. Untitled (Mlle Bourgeoise Noire) documents her guerrilla performance as the character Mlle Bourgeoise Noire (Miss Black Middle-Class) occupying the space of museum openings where people of color and women have historically been marginalized or excluded. See this work now in 20/20: The Studio Museum in Harlem and Carnegie Museum of Art in CMOA’s Heinz Galleries.

–Eric Crosby, The Richard Armstrong Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, and Hannah Turpin, curatorial assistant

Renowned for his meticulous drawings and atmospheric architecture, Peter Salter recently completed four townhouses on Walmer Road in West London. The Heinz Architectural Center is delighted to add to its collection a set of plans and a cross section of this complex project as well as a characteristically poetic working drawing of the lower street façade.

–Raymund Ryan, curator of architecture

Considered to be one of the inventors of photography, William Henry Fox Talbot drew on his knowledge of art history, botany, chemistry, and optics to produce the first ever photographic work on paper. The particular choice of subject for this photograph must have come easily; Talbot once wrote, “Old oak trees are very much to my taste.” See this work now in William Henry Fox Talbot and the Promise of Photography in CMOA’s Gallery One.

–Dan Leers, curator of photography

This is a work of cubist abstraction, but the title tells us there’s more to it. Its line and form and space and color and texture are complex and beautiful; and so, perhaps, is the relationship between two individuals sharing an aperitif and a conversation. I recommended its acquisition for its strength and freshness of color, and because it exemplifies early cubism. In addition, it is the first cubist work in our collection by this important American modernist, and it comes with a Pittsburgh provenance.

–Louise Lippincott, curator of fine art

Support
General operating support for Carnegie Museum of Art is provided by The Heinz Endowments and Allegheny Regional Asset District. The programs of the Heinz Architectural Center are made possible by the generosity of the Drue Heinz Trust. Carnegie Museum of Art receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Carnegie Museum of Art
Carnegie Museum of Art creates experiences that connect people to art, ideas, and one another. The museum is committed to global engagement and regional advancement. We champion creativity and its importance to society with experiences that welcome, inspire, challenge, and inform. Our core activities—collecting, conserving, presenting, and interpreting works of art—make those experiences possible. Our world-class collection of over 30,000 works emphasizes art, architecture, photography, and design from the 19th century to the present. One of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art was founded by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1895. Learn more: call 412.622.3131 or visit cmoa.org.