Collection of the University of Pittsburgh Art Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA. Gift of The Gimbel Brothers, Inc.
1959.GIMBEL.05

Dumping Slag, Pittsburgh

October 1 1947 (Date published)
1946 – 1947 (Date created)

Oil
Painting
Paintings
31 in W x 24 in H (Object)
31 in W x 24 in H (Frame)
American
Dramatic dark scene with smoking train running along hilltop on right, steaming molten steel waste being dumped down hillside.
"The dumping of molten slag, a dramatic episode in the disposal of steel waste, is one Pittsburgh sight less familiar to the tourist, unless he approaches the city by air at night. The Pittsburgh airport, itself, is built on ground created by slag. Carried by train, in gondolas, the livid stream is poured down slopes in comparatively isolated spots, and helps to build new land." (D. Grafty, "Pennsylvania as Artists See it: The Gimbel PA Art Collection", 1948. Reproduced for "SLAG", Fall 2010)

A train car is dumping a fiery trail of slag down the hill, forming a mass of smog that blends with the clouds in the sky and the smoke from the coal-operated wagon. With a low vantage point, the eye stands at the convergence of an unscathed hill and a slope altered by industrial slag. In this painting, nature and industry meet in a conflicting duality. (Isabelle Chartier, "Shifting Ground", Fall 2017)
In Collection
ca. 1959, University Art Gallery Gift of Mr. Steve Osterweis, President of Gimbel Brothers, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa.

ca. 1946-1959, Gimbel Brothers, Inc.
Catalog of October 1, 1947 (first publication of the paintings)

D. Grafty, "Pennsylvania as Artists See it: The Gimbel PA Art Collection", 1948

R. Gigler, "Pittsburgh's Man of Steel", Pittsburgh Press Roto, August 12, 1979.

O. Francis, "The Saga of Joe Magarac Steelman", Scribner's Magazine, nov. 1931.

Roy Kahn, "Real Pittsburgh: Just an Average Joe", Pittsburgh Magazine, nov. 1985, 17-18.

Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, Feb. 25, 1948

John Oliver La Gorce, "Artists Look At Pennsylvania", National Geographic Magazine

Catalogue from March 1959 when the collection was presented at the new University Student Union at Pitt (formerly Schenley Hotel).
Please note that cataloging is ongoing and that some information may not be complete.

Corporate commissions
Western Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Industry
Social
Landscapes