Carnegie Museum of Art Showcases Architectural Casts
The casts have inspired the likes of Andy Warhol.
Laura B. Weiss -- Interior Design, 9/24/2007 12:00:00 AM
A unique treasure trove of architectural casts will be marking its centennial this month in Pennsylvania with a special exhibition at Carnegie Museum of Art’s Heinz Architectural Center, located in Pittsburgh.
Running from September 22–January 27, 2008, "On a Grand Scale: The Hall of Architecture at 100," will showcase approximately 150 objects, including architectural drawings, period photographs, and an antique mold from which casts were made. First brought to Pittsburgh by Andrew Carnegie 100 years ago, the more than 140 plaster casts of architectural works are housed in the museum’s Hall of Architecture.
Museums once owned substantial cast collections, but the idea went out of vogue and the Carnegie Museum of Art’s collection is now one of the world’s largest.
"This great hall has no less appeal than it had 100 years ago, when it first served as a window to parts of the world few would ever see," says David Hillenbrand, president and CEO of Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.
The Hall of Architecture contains full-size casts of buildings located in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome-- from Gothic, Romanesque, and Renaissance Europe. A cast of the western facade of the 12th-century Benedictine abbey church of St. Gilles in Gard, France is the largest surviving cast in the world, and one of the largest ever produced at 38 feet high and 75 feet long.
The casts have served as inspiration for many artists and designers, among them Pittsburgh native Andy Warhol.
The Carnegie Museum of Art is located at 4400 Forbes Avenue.
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