Painting of the Month

 

by Carol E. Schalk

Acquired 1966

 

This painting, with its dogwood branch in full blossom against a partly sunny sky, evokes the essence of springtime.  the artist caught the moment of full glory before green leaves replace the flowers.  She depicted the flowers realistically, including the center crown of thorns and the tips of brown-red on each petal.  She designed the sky so that the viewer's attention is drawn to the heart of the canvas.  An area of cerulean blue in the center accents the leaves and flowers in that area and provides contrast to the soft pastel clouds that surround the branch.

 

by Clare G. Stover

Acquired 1955

 

Mozart Hall, an architecturally interesting building in Latrobe, is depicted in this realistic work.  The building was erected when George Seiler, a fancy meat dealer in the late 19th century, decided that the community needed a magnificent hall for social activities.  He hired a Pittsburgh contractor to build this one.  The artist carefully executed the intricate designs and colors impressed in the metal facade of the building.  She captured the contrast between the ornate decorations of the turreted structure and the prosaic grocery market at street level.

 

by Theodore Allmendinger

Acquired 1941

 

This elderly woman, with a rural Pennsylvania winter landscape at her back, gazes steadily at the viewer.  Her portrait is realistic with glowing flesh tones and eyes that hold the wisdom of age.  Her shawl and head scarf are skillfully detailed; the artist seems to have woven, rather than painted them.  The woman stands in the very center of the painting with her body and head forming an isosceles triangle.  This shape is repeated in the roofs of the buildings behind her.  The entire work is done in shades of black, white and brown with the only exception being the touch of bright green on the porch railing.

 

by George Haskey

Acquired 1938

 

Winter Stream is a realistic interpretation of a forest snow scene, done in the style of the Barbizon School.  The artist understands light and uses it to create the misty atmosphere that outlines the bare tree branches and dry grass stalks.  The mood of the composition is one of peaceful equilibrium.  the bold trees to the left gracefully balance the vegetation that fades away to the right.  A meandering stream gathers all the soft browns and grays of the painting and brings them to the foreground.

 

by Joseph R. Frola

Acquired 1948

 

The artist painted this portrait of his bachelor neighbor who had told Mr. Frola that he spent the long winter days just reading and sleeping in his chair.  Everything in the picture is designed to show the warmth and security of that home: an old stove with a bucketful of coal nearby, the overstuffed chair pulled near it, a cheerful flowered floor covering and the exterior show scene from the window to remind the viewer of the harsh weather outside.  Although the old bachelor lived alone, he remained in contact with the rest of the world through his radio and newspaper.

 

by Jerome Bell

Acquired 1953

 

The artist used a surrealistic approach in his presentation of a night view of a city.  At first, the painting looks like a brightly lighted amusement park; then, at closer study, the view begins to see outlines of buildings, white ribbons of roads and a dark river.  Near the center of the work is a small onion-shaped dome that may be the Pittsburgh church familiar to motorists who travel the Parkway.  Bell used a staining technique to apply his paint in very thin layers, resulting in a smooth finish devoid of any texture.

 

by Virgil D. Cantini

Acquired 1947

 

Power and movement are the dominant characteristics of this portrayal of a football play.  In the style of German Expressionism, the artist outlined the figures with a heavy black line as if this were a coloring book.  A dark background contributes to the illusion of the figures thrusting forward out of the painting.   Conflicting forces collide in the center as a blocker clears the way for his teammate with the football.  The players' faces, in the days before protective masks, show the intensity of the game.  The number on the jersey of the ball carrier even looks like the word "GO".

 

by Mary Martha Himler

Acquired 1942

 

Recess, the fourth Himler in the collection, is the only one of the works to include people.  This painting is full of life as it depicts a scene Miss Himler recalled from her first teaching job.  A one-room schoolhouse and its two necessary outbuildings provide the background for a busy group of children, their pets and their teacher.  The trees and fence curve toward the figures.  Only one child stands alone; the girl in the doorway of the school gazes pensively at the activity in the schoolyard.

 

When she retired from teaching, Miss Himler said, "Art, I think, is a vital factor in any community.  For true art is a bit of the eternal melodies ... It is a vital life-spring of joy when it is real and sincere.  I have joy in the fact that I laid a good foundation for Latrobe's art collection and interest in art."

 

by James R. Beatty

Acquired 1951

 

Greywing Manor, owned by the Steele family at the time of this work, still stands in New Alexandria.  The artist was interested in the unusual composition of an old apple tree in front of an English-style country home.  The house and sky are a pale flat backdrop to the dramatic portrayal of the tree whose arching branches stretch from one side of the work to the other.  One limb thrusts forward, giving the illusion of invading the world beyond the painting.  The impasto work on the bark is unique; it is so thick that pieces of bark seem to lift from the canvas.

 

by Marjorie Laird

Acquired 2003

 

An art seminar in Maine led the artist to discover this little fishing village while sightseeing.  The impressionist seascape achieves a sense of stillness and harmony with its play of soft tones in light and shadow.  Weather-beaten houses of various pastel colors and fishing shacks scale the hillside leading down to the rocky shore.  Exposed pilings of the dock indicate that it is low tide.  Several seabirds hover and a sailboat is visible near an offshore island but these are the only signs of movement in this tranquil scene.  A little bluebird appears near the artist's signature indicating her hope that the painting will bring happiness to its owner.  Marjorie Laird has long loved the sea.  She and her husband once lived on a schooner carrying cargo in Central America and then moved to Boston with many visits to Cape Cod.

 

by Robert D. Long

Acquired 1945

 

Evening Landscape is another naive or folk art painting.  This artist, however, has skill beyond most self-taught painters and understands the use of light and perspective.  He divides the canvas according to classical tradition and creates a balanced work of serene harmony.  The sheep in the foreground are real, so round and woolly that they seem in need of shearing.  Light from the setting sun slants across the flock and dramatically illuminates them as if they were characters in a theatrical production.

 

by Martha M. Morgan

Acquired 1936

 

Blossom Time is the first painting acquired by the Student Council for the permanent collection at Greater Latrobe High School.  A large apple tree in full blossom dominates this impressionistic work.  The fence in the foreground and the road to the left form an expanding angle leading to a schoolhouse with children at recess in the distance.  A small girl and barefoot boy on the fence look back to the schoolhouse scene.  An intricate pattern of tree shadows leads the viewer deep into the work.  The artist uses a soft pastel color scheme to create mood and a variety of brushstrokes to create textures in the picture.

 

by Robert R. Young

Acquired 1943

 

An unpaved country road leads directly into the heart of Ohio Farm On An April Day.  After heeding the admonition of the yellow stop sign, the viewer arrives at the old farm set back under the trees.  Smoke from the chimney hangs low over the house indicating the high humidity of the atmosphere, and bare tree branches bend in the same direction as the drifting smoke.  The colors are winter-subdued; however, glints of yellow on branch tips and fresh green appearing in the field signal the land's awakening from a winter sleep.

 

by Bertha Gill Johnston

Acquired 1940

 

A casual arrangement of red tulips and gray pussy willows makes up a spring bouquet in this still life.  The artist creates a harmony of complimentary colors, especially red and green, which guides the viewer into the gentle curves of the arrangement.  Bertha Johnston has placed flowers on a white cloth in front of a window.   This enables her to work with light coming through the window, filtering through the crystal vase and producing shadows on the snowy cloth.

 

by John D. Clarkson

Acquired 1946

 

An arc of slushy road crosses the black tracks of a railroad under sentinel-like gates and leads the viewer to the center of a small Western Pennsylvania town.  Perched beside the crossing, like an oversized birdhouse, is a little green building where the gatekeeper watches.  The artist has succeeded in creating a wet, cold winter day.  The foreground is dark and desolate but the structures of the town stand with their glowing lights to welcome the approaching traveller.

 

 

by George H. Gerhardt

Acquired 1943

 

Winter Sunshine is a well-planned composition that uses classical symmetry to create a sense of tranquility.  Two ruts through the snow lead the viewer from a shadowed foreground to the clear, lighted center of the painting.  On either side of the lane, groups of trees divide the work into the desired harmony of the classical tradition.  The artist selected his most vibrant color and placed it in the very center in the yellow house.  He balanced it with a smaller yellow building to the right and a red one to the left.  He created the deeper snow banks by building a thickness of paint, while simply staining the canvas for the misty background.

 

by Peggy Phillips

Acquired in 1938

 

PIttsburgh Snow Scene won the Carnegie Institute Prize at the Associated Artists Show in 1938.  The work, in the WPA style, presents a frosty, windy street corner.  Snow swirls and settles on roofs, walls and road while two little birds huddle on the branch in the central foreground.  Two small children, looking like birds themselves, brave the weather.  Touches of bright green, red and gold brighten the black and white winter scene.  Peggy Phillips told a student reporter that she wanted to enter a new painting in the 1938 show so she did this one very quickly.  In fact, she painted the birds on the telephone wires the morning she took the painting to be juried.  

 

by Roy Hilton

Acquired in 1945

 

November Morning is a view from the artist's home in the Mt. Lebanon section of Pittsburgh.  Roy Hilton was interested in the pattern and play of light that caused inanimate objects to stand out as separate elements.  He has successfully captured that light in this composition.  The sun rises in a golden glimmer through the frosty haze of a late fall morning, creating a luminosity that breaks away into the golds of the landscape and the blues and greens of the sky.  The tree branches stand out against the sky, each twig separate.  People live in this scene; the old milk truck and car assure us of that.  However, people are not important here as design and harmony create the suspended stillness of the breaking day.

 

by Wilfred A. Readio

Acquired 1942

 

From Land And Sea is done with a superrealistic approach, although that style did not become a popular part of the art world until 40 years later.  In this still life, the artist has taken four simple objects and painted them larger than life.  In doing this, he seems to be saying that something here is important and he wants the viewer to discover what it is. A dried ear of corn and three seashells comprise the soft composition of light and shadows.  Graceful curves abound in the shapes of the shells and curls of corn husks.  The artist has created so real a quality of dryness in the painting that the husks seem almost to crackle.

 

by Raymond S. Simboli

Acquired 1940

 

One of the all-time favorite paintings in the collection, Young Athletes, is a realistic portrayal of two football players and a friend engrossed in an unseen game.  Dirt and grass stains on their uniforms indicate that the two teammates have already been on the field.  The colors in the picture are rich and warm with touches of white in the background to provide distance and light behind the boys.  The central figure is the artist's older son who was killed during World War II when his plane was shot down over Italy.

 

by Dai Morgan

Acquired 2001

 

A small Maxfield Parrish painting "Tree Study" impressed Dai Morgan and inspired him to create this work.  He chose as his subject a large sycamore tree that was just around the corner from his home and painted this realistic cityscape as the setting for it.  Bright sunlight coming from the left causes the shadow of the tree to stretch across the street to shade the building there.  Framing the tree are groups of residential urban structures, each depicted with meticulous regard to detail down to the flaking concrete steps and the utility meter.  The central focus is the sycamore itself; its tall straight white trunk with peeling curls of brown and its light graceful branches that extend to the top of the canvas.  The many green tones found in the leafy foliage are echoes in hedges, bushes and trees throughout the scene.  The artist regretfully noted that the borough cut down the tree the next year.

 

by Robert Anthony Jones

Acquired 2006

 

Serenity is here defined and portrayed as an early-morning beach scene on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, before the incursion of sun-loving vacationers.  It is a moment suspended in a still breath of time.  To create this effect, the artist has used a linear treatment of water and chairs with parallel lines of each cutting across the canvas.  A row of unoccupied double beach chairs crosses the center, each with its umbrella like a limp inverted cobalt flower.  Following alongside is a procession of purple shadows.  The sapphire and lavender ocean at low tide has simple lines to mark what will later be real waves.  A gentle lapping of water at the shoreline is the only movement, a soft melody for the restful scene.

 

by Clayton F. Merrell

Acquired 1998

 

The paradoxical title of this work leads the viewer to study the painting more carefully because claustrophobia, the fear of being enclosed in narrow places, usually is not thought to apply to sky arching toward infinity. However, if the viewer takes up the challenge of the artist and abandons his everyday way of looking at things, he may imagine himself lying on his back in the center of a forest glade.  Here, his peripheral vision perceives a circular horizon rimmed with distant trees and fields.  Overhead is a whirling vortex of clouds surrounding a sapphire blue center that at first appears like an astronomical black hole drawing all attention to its core and then suddenly changing its aspect to become a powerful force collapsing down toward the viewer. 

 

by Esther Topp Edmonds

Acquired 1949

 

The Somerset countryside represented here was one of the artist's favorite subjects.  The composition depicts a rural spring scene with new green showing everywhere in the warming earth.  The house and series of farm buildings half enclose the sunlit garden, creating a sense of secure privacy.  Two men are planting the garden while a woman, wearing a dress of the same cream color as the house, sits on the porch.  Ms. Edmonds' time studying and teaching in France is reflected in this work, especially in the loosely painted trees and soft colors.

 

by Raymond S. Simboli

Acquired 1956

 

This painting, when seen along with Simboli's Young Athletes, Plate 20, illustrates the progression of his style from impressionistic realism to abstract urban landscape.  A street wet with rain mirrors the darkness of the night and the glare of blocks of white and neon light.  Small cars negotiate an artificial obstacle course of reflected buildings.  The work is nearly monochromatic with patches of stark white and touches of red to relieve the blue-gray tones.

 

by (Saraf) Sara Feldman

Acquired 1963

 

Viewers often look at the vivid swirls of color and movement in this painting and see a matador in a bullring.  However, the artist's title, Drying Off, demands a closer exploration of the work.  Further study leads to the awareness of abstracted forms of a mother surrounded by children.  A small girl still wet from her bath stands in the center while a kneeling figure enfolds her in lustrous golden drapery.  Behind her, the mother wraps another child in a long white cloth.  The skillful use of asymmetrical balance combined with repetition of curves and exciting colors holds the viewer's attention.

 

by Kathleen Hicks

Acquired 2005

 

Reflections, the title of this work may be found to have two meanings here.  First, "reflections" is the word describing the serene forest landscape with snow, bare trees and an area of frozen water.  A low winter sunset beyond the trees provides enough light to cause reflections on the icy layer covering snow and water.  Misty colors of yellow, rose, lavender and gray veil this world with only dark tree trunks and branches to anchor it firmly to the earth.  The second meaning involves personal reflections of the viewer on the seasonal metaphors of the winter solstice:  light and darkness, warmth and cold, hibernation and rebirth.

 

by Helen Lindsay Lee

Acquired 1966

 

The frosty cold of a winter sunset is intensified here by stark white pine trees silhouetted against the fading light.  An ice storm has transformed the trees into sharp stalagmites thrusting upward from a glossy foreground toward the sky.  The background is almost transparent with no indication of texture.  Dark smudges create the impression of land and trees untouched by the storm while a color-streaked sky hangs like a stage backdrop.

 

by William DeBernardi

Acquired 1992

 

This holiday scene in New Kensington is an example of twentieth century urban impressionism.  A row of houses on the left side of the work and a cleared sidewalk on the right form parallel lines that converge at the distant rose-colored horizon.  Tire marks on the snowy road help to lead the viewer's eye to that point.  Bright lights, candles and a Santa Claus at the first house on the left shine out through the mist of falling snow and identify the holiday season.  A street lamp in the upper center of the painting gleams like a modern Christmas star.

 

by Aaronel DeRoy Gruber

Acquired 1960

 

Aaronel Gruber is one of the few artists who sent an interpretation to be included in the files of the collection.  She wrote, "In High And Mighty I was most interested in controlled orchestration of color and space.  I was seeking large masses of space and cool colors in order to achieve the feeling of the great height, the pinnacles, grassy regions and snowy areas indigenous to mountains.  Space is its realm, color its mood, and my attempt to reach the essence of nature.  The viewer may have an entirely different impression, since the layman can attach his own dreams, background and experience to what he sees."

 

by Susan Tucker

Acquired 1968

 

The artist saturated this impressionist autumn landscape with light and color.  The lake of the title can be glimpsed as patches of turquoise among the complementary reds and oranges of the foliage.  Dark patches on the bottom and both sides direct the viewer's eyes to the bright center of the work.  The artist intensified the impact of color by building up layers of impasto to create texture and strength.

 

by James Guentner

Acquired 2000

 

The Pipefitters hangs next to The Hoist (Plate 11) in the office hall of the high school.  Both works, although acquired more than 60 years apart, can be seen as forceful visual symbols of Greater Latrobe's industrial history.  The artist describes his style as a cross between photo-realism and romantic art.  He realistically depicts these two men in their work-wrinkled blue shirts against a neutral construction background.  Their faces, sharply defined in profile, are allowed to show for a moment their weariness before the demands of the job call them back.  Guentner's feeling for romantic art is also shown in his portrayal of the dignity and strength of the blue-collar worker, most clearly seen in the hand of the man in the foreground that rests on the shoulder of his fellow pipefitter in a gesture of fellowship.  His hand is the central focus of the painting and reminds the viewer of the generations of hands that built our country.

 

by Elizabeth Hazlett

Acquired 2004

 

A calm ocean has long served artists as a metaphor for varied concepts: peace, mystery, vastness and eternal timelessness.  The Beach is a result of this artist's fascination with all those meanings, both in her experience and in her memory.  The painting is a triptych, each of the three sections complete in itself.  Taken as a whole, the work conveys an impressionist view of the expansive scope and majesty of a quiet sea.  All is still with a straight horizon line marking the distance and an unpeopled seaside with only a stand of sea oats in the foreground.   The title invokes the remembrance of summers past, of family, softly lapping waves and sand between the toes.  The artist used all this to create the sense of serenity and re-creation that a beach vacation can bring.

 

By Dorothy Hambly Ellen

Acquired 1939

 

Mill Creek Valley -- Pennsylvania is a bright impressionistic work painted with a total absence of black in the artist's palette.  The sunny scene is a hunting lodge near Standing Mountain in Huntingdon County,  The stream of the title crosses the foreground of the work and flows under the road that takes the viewer to the center of the picture.  Greens and blues prevail in the composition with only one touch of red placed on the lodge roof to draw attention there.  The balance and color combine to create a quiet setting.

 

by Esther Topp Edmonds

Acquired 1949

 

The Somerset countryside represented here was one of the artist's favorite subjects.  The composition depicts a rural spring scene with new green showing everywhere in the warming earth.  The house and series of farm buildings half enclose the sunlit garden, creating a sense of secure privacy.  Two men are planting the garden while a woman, wearing a dress of the same cream color as the house, sits on the porch.  Ms. Edmonds' time studying and teaching in France is reflected in this work, especially in the loosely painted trees and soft colors.

 

by Carol E. Schalk

Acquired 1966

 

This painting, with its dogwood branch in full blossom against a partly sunny sky, evokes the essence of springtime.  The artist caught the moment of full glory before green leaves replace the flowers.  She depicted the flowers realistically, including the center crown of thorns and the tips of brown-red on each petal.  She designed the sky so that the viewer's attention is drawn to the heart of the canvas.  An area of cerulean blue in the center accents the leaves and flowers in that area and provides contrast to the soft pastel clouds that surround the branch.

 

by Clare G. Stover

Acquired 1955

 

Mozart Hall, an architecturally interesting building in Latrobe, is depicted in this realistic work.  The building was erected when George Seiler, a fancy meat dealer in the late 19th century, decided that the community needed a magnificent hall for social activities.  He hired a Pittsburgh contractor to build this one.  The artist carefully executed the intricate designs and colors impressed in the metal facade of the building.  She captured the contrast between the ornate decorations of the turreted structure and the prosaic grocery market at street level.

 

by Theodore Allmendinger

Acquired 1941

 

This elderly woman, with a rural Pennsylvania winter landscape at her back, gazes steadily at the viewer.  Her portrait is realistic with glowing flesh tones and eyes that hold the wisdom of age.  Her shawl and head scarf are skillfully detailed; the artist seems to have woven, rather than painted, them.  The woman stands in the very center of the painting with her body and head forming an isosceles triangle.  This shape is repeated in the roofs of the building behind her.  The entire work is done in shades of black, white and brown with the only exception being the touch of bright green on the porch railing.

 

by George Haskey

Acquired 1938

 

Winter Stream is a realistic interpretation of a forest snow scene, done in the style of the Barbizon School.  The artist understands light and uses it to create the misty atmosphere that outlines the bare tree branches and dry grass stalks.  The mood of the composition is one of peaceful equilibrium.  The bold trees to the left gracefully balance the vegetation that fades away to the right.  A meandering stream gathers all the soft browns and grays of the painting and brings them to the foreground.

 

by Joseph R. Frola

Acquired 1948

 

The artist painted this portrait of his bachelor neighbor who had told Mr. Frola that he spent the long winter days just reading and sleeping in his chair.  Everything in the picture is designed to show the warmth and security of that home;  an old stove with a bucketful of coal nearby, the overstuffed chair pulled near it, a cheerful flowered floor covering and the exterior snow scene from the window to remind the viewer of the harsh weather outside.  Although the old bachelor lived alone, he remained in contact with the rest of the world through his radio and newspaper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 2020 Painting of the Month

Maine Fishing Village
By Marjorie Laird
Acquired in 2003

An art seminar in Maine led the artist to discover this little fishing village while sightseeing.  The impressionist seascape achieves a sense of stillness and harmony with its play of soft tones in light and shadow.  Weather-beaten houses of various pastel colors and fishing shacks scale the hillside leading down to the rocky shore.  Exposed pilings of the dock indicate that it is low tide.  Several seabirds hover and a sailboat is visible near an offshore island but these are the only signs of movement in this tranquil scene.  A little bluebird appears near the artist's signature indicating her hope that the painting will bring happiness to is owner.  Marjorie Laird has long loved the sea.  She and her husband once lived on a schooner carrying cargo in Central America and then moved to Boston with many visits to Cape Cod.