• The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition

What do Ragtime, the Ferris wheel and George Westinghouse have in common? They all helped to make the nation come alive during the grandest fair in the world. Through this dynamic presentation, the Frick looks back at the fair that defined the Gilded Age as well as set the stage for a new century—the World’s Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893. Learn about what made the fair so significant, how it forever altered the nation and how it influenced innovators ranging from Frank Lloyd Wright to Walt Disney. Along the way, discover its surprising ties to Pittsburgh and Henry Clay Frick himself.

• 1934: Art by the People, For the People

Not many people realize that, during the depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt included art in his efforts to revitalize the economy and spirit of the nation. Organized in 1934 under the New Deal, the Public Works of Art Project supported thousands of artists in the creation of paintings, murals, drawings and other works of art for display in schools, libraries, post offices, museums, and government buildings. Take a close look at some of these works—several of which represent Pittsburgh and its culture—and discover the many interpretations of “the American Scene” during this pivotal era in American history.

• Amazing Automobile Innovations

Are you proud of your new car’s hybrid engine and self-parking feature? These and other automotive innovations that we think of as current—from power locks to adjustable steering columns—first appeared in automobiles decades ago. Learn about such surprisingly modern features of cars from the 1890s to the 1950s. Vintage automobile artifacts and a timeline activity offer further fun and perspective.

• American Landscapes

From its “purple mountains majesty” to its “amber waves of grain”, the nation has defined itself, since its infancy, through its landscapes. This colorful and insightful program surveys the rapid growth in American landscape painting during the 19th century, and it looks at how, over time, landscapes represented in art—including painting, music, photography and other arts—have reflected Americans’ changing attitudes toward nature and their relationship to it. A special focus on art depicting Pittsburgh landscapes, from natural to industrial, invites participants to consider the ways in which the city’s own identity has been shaped by its often conflicting associations with the land.

• Architecture and Beauty

What makes a building beautiful? To what extent does our physical environment contribute to our sense of well being? How do the buildings and objects we surround ourselves with every day tell us who we are and what is important to us? Using rich images and thought-provoking perspective, this presentation invites participants to explore these questions and look at the walls around them in a new way.

• Art Nouveau and the Spread of Style

How exactly do the objects we use, the clothes we wear and the jewelry we love get to look the way they do? This colorful program investigates, through an exploration of the Art Nouveau movement, how style becomes a part of nearly every facet of our daily lives—showing up in architecture, furniture, interior design, clothing, jewelry, and household items.

• Bound for Adventure: 100 Years of Children’s
  Book Illustration

What were your favorite books as a child? What illustrations have stayed imprinted in your memory? From delicate watercolors to evocative pen and ink drawings, this presentation pays homage to the art of children’s book illustration over the last century. Using illustrations from dozens of picture books, including Kate Greenaway’s The April Baby’s Book of Tunes, Johnny Gruelle’s Raggedy Ann and Andy and Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, discussion explores the process of illustration and its evolution over time.

• Cemetery Tales: Pittsburgh’s Buried Art and History

This program offers an armchair tour of Pittsburgh’s picturesque cemeteries. Images and discussion explore the history of burial grounds in the United States and how they transformed into revered and oft-visited park-like spaces. Colorful slides show the evolution of the art and design of tombstones and memorials, and equally colorful vignettes tell the stories of the notable and interesting Pittsburghers who lie beneath them.

• Do Clothes Make the Man? Or Woman?

This discussion and illustrated talk centers on the transition of clothing styles following the Civil War through the early 20th century. A slide discussion, combined with hands-on examples of turn-of -the-century clothing, provides a fascinating illustration of how clothing styles reflect the philosophies of a culture.

• Excess and Beauty: Decorating the Victorian Home

Decoration in the Gilded Age was influenced by ancient and modern world cultures. Homes were a reflection of wealth, status and the owner’s commitment to refinement. This illustrated talk traces some of these influences in decorating, particularly as they appear in the Henry Clay Frick home, Clayton.

• Fabulous Faberge

From jewelry to pillboxes to animal figurines to page turners, the House of Faberge produced a wide array of elegant objects treasured by patrons and collectors. With high resolution images, this presentation offers a study of some of these works, and with historic artifacts, it allows for perusal of other elegant objects prized by people throughout the years, inviting discussion on the personal value we place on our own treasured objects.

• The Fashionable East End

Pittsburgh’s growth as an industrial center in the late 19th century led the middle class and wealthy to move away from the smoky, gritty mill sites in the downtown to the leafy suburbs, a train or trolley commute away. Take a visual “walk” through Millionaire’s Row in the East End, home to some of Pittsburgh’s wealthiest citizens, in this illustrated talk.

• From Horse and Carriage to Horseless Carriage

In the early years of the 20th century, carriages and cars shared the road in Pittsburgh. Images from the Frick’s Car and Carriage Museum provide a look at the transformation of travel during that era, while touchable historic objects offer participants firsthand examination of some of the trappings of transportation from long ago.

• Green Gifts: The Nature of Pittsburgh

This program surveys the history of Pittsburgh’s parks and natural areas, many of which were gifts from philanthropists such as Henry Clay Frick. Discussion explores how the area’s unique geography and natural resources shaped its destiny and how nature continues to play a role in the region’s vitality.

• The Homestead Steel Strike

A seminal event of the era, the Homestead Steel Strike of 1892 changed the face of labor for decades. Explore the main characters of this drama of American industrial history: Henry Clay Frick, Andrew Carnegie and the union laborers of the Carnegie Steel Company.

• Julia Margaret Cameron and the
  American Photo Album

Using the stunning and pioneering 19th century portrait photography of Julia Margaret Cameron as a backdrop, this program looks into the practice and art of the family photo album from the early days of photography to the present. Discussion encourages participants to think about and share thoughts on their own family photo memories.

• Land of Abundance: The American Garden

Through this colorful presentation, learn about the history of gardening in America and in the region. From early explorers to our presidents to Pittsburghers like the Frick family, discover how, through our love of gardens, we quite literally have cultivated the American dream.

 

• Love Stories and Flirtations:
  Victorian Courtship Traditions

The Victorian era was time when the rules of courtship were elaborate and many. Through works of art, photographs, etiquette books and the pages of turn-of-the-century women’s magazines, learn what it was like to fall in love during this unique period in history.

• Millionaire or Maid: Life in the Gilded Age

Life in the Gilded Age was opulent and refined for some, austere and arduous for others. Join a discussion about what life was really like whether you were millionaire or maid in Pittsburgh’s Victorian era.

• Off the Pedestal: “New Women” in
  19th-Century Art

Following the Civil War, women pursued greater personal freedom and professional opportunities. American masters Winslow Homer, William Merritt Chase, and John Singer Sargent provide the images of these “New Women” of the 19th and early 20th centuries. View these radical images in art, literature and popular culture that shocked America.

• On the Road Again: Our Roads, Our History

Using photos, maps and a discussion on the role of the automobile role in our culture, this presentation illuminates our local history by following roads we travel every day.

• The Powerful Hand of George Bellows

Capturing the spirit and character of life in the early twentieth century, the drawings of George Bellows are intimate studies of his friends and family, social gatherings and sporting events. Give your views on these candid snapshots of American life that were created as assignments for popular magazines such as Harper’s Weekly and The Masses.

• Railroad Ties: Tracks through Pittsburgh’s Past

This program explores the complex and varied influence of the railroad on the region. Complete with images, maps and artifacts, this discussion explores just what made Pittsburgh the railroad hub that it is. Participants will discover the railroad’s elaborate connections to the steel industry, get insight into its fascinating players and learn about multiple roles the railroad continues to play in the region’s vitality.

• Romance in Art

Indulge in stunning works of art that depict the many facets of love and romance. Through these images, explore courting traditions, consider gender expectations and investigate cultural themes and taboos of the eras in which the works were created.

• Staying Well in the Gilded Age

If you got sick, accidentally injured yourself or just plain didn’t feel well in the 19th century, your health care options were limited. Your options were, nevertheless, interesting. From folk remedies to controversial treatments, learn the many ways our ancestors sought to cure what ailed them.

• Stunners and Dreamers: Literature and Mythology in 19th Century Art

Inspired by the literature of Shakespeare, Chaucer and Keats; classic mythology; the Bible; and legends of King Arthur; the Pre-Raphaelite artists in 19th century Britain created amazing works of art. Discuss dazzling paintings, William Morris designs, furniture, jewelry, silver, pewter and glass that were influenced by these fascinating personalities.

• The Titanic, Pittsburgh and the Sinking of an Era

This absorbing morning program explores the grandeur of the ocean liner, uncovers details about its passengers—as well as would-be passengers such as Henry Clay and Adelaide Frick—and considers the Titanic as symbolic of the era’s industry, optimism and opulence and its rapid plunge into the troubling waters of war and economic turmoil.

• Upstairs/Downstairs: In Service in the Gilded Age

Fourteen-hour days and one half-day off a week was the lot of the domestic worker during the Gilded Age. Join us for a lively look at those behind the scenes personalities in the lavish mansions of wealthy American Industrialists.

• Victorian Holiday Traditions

Do you know when the first Christmas card was sent or why many people keep a bucket of water handy when they lit their Christmas trees? Explore the origins of these and many other Victorian holiday traditions.

• Victorian Mourning and Other Curious Customs

The death of a loved one in the 19th century began, for the bereaved, a period of strict rules of dress and deportment. Discuss the customs and etiquette and examine mourning artifacts of an era when “widow’s weeds” were a common sight.

• The Victorian Parlor

This program gives participants the opportunity to spend an hour in another time, exploring the history and etiquette of entertaining guests with tea and parlor games—a practice that became supremely popular during the Victorian era. Participants will learn to speak the intriguing “language of the fan” and have the opportunity to engage in a few parlor games themselves.

• Victorian Pastimes in Pittsburgh

By the latter part of the 19th century, most people earned more money and worked shorter hours than ever before. This meant that for the first time, ordinary people had enough spare time to enjoy hobbies and other pastimes. From music and theater to sports, games and toys, learn about the ways in which Americans, and particularly people in Pittsburgh, spent their newfound free time. 

• Victorian Voices: Women of an Era

Named for Britain’s Queen Victoria, the Victorian era was a pivotal time for women. From journals and letters to poetry, speeches and news articles, hear the actual words of many of these women—some famous, some little-known, some with unexpected Pittsburgh connections—along with their amazing stories.

• A Walk in the Woods: 19th Century Landscapes and the Road to Impressionism

Painting en plein air in the Forest of Fontainebleau, mid-19th century French artists dedicated themselves to the study of nature as it realistically existed, without the filter of the previous generation’s romanticism. Their truthful views of the landscape, with its changing light and weather, would serve as a legacy for the Impressionists, who would seek an immediate “impression” in their outdoors views.

• A Well-Appointed Table:
  Dining at the Turn of the Century

It has been said that dining is the privilege of civilization. A person’s standing in turn-of-the-century society could be measured by the way they took their meals. This presentation takes a look at the ritual act of eating across cultures while paying special focus to America’s Gilded Age—a time when dining reached a pinnacle of refinement.

• Women in the Gilded Age Home

From the wives of wealthy industrialists to their household staff, this program offers an inside look at what daily life was like for women in the late 19th century. With a focus on the clothing and styles adopted by women during Pittsburgh’s Gilded Age, this lively presentation includes vivid historical images and engaging discussion—as well as numerous touchable objects of period, including clothing, personal objects and other household items.