University Times

“Monongahela Incline” hangs in the lower lobby. The acrylic painting by Tom Ruddy is one of many Pittsburgh-themed works displayed throughout the club.

Visitors to the University Club would find it hard to miss the large acrylic painting behind the reception desk or the artwork hung in the entry vestibules. But the artwork doesn’t stop on the main floor. More than three dozen works of art are on display throughout the four floors of the club, with some less-visible pieces tucked into conference rooms, hallways and even the restroom vestibules.

And while the club is designed to be a meeting place, not an art museum, plenty of guests pause to appreciate the paintings and more than a few inquire about the wall décor.

In response, Facilities Management is developing an informational brochure to guide and inform visitors about the collection housed throughout the club, said Kimberly McNelis, an architectural designer in the Planning, Design and Construction Department. Although she had no estimate of when the guides, which are being designed now, will be completed, McNelis said the plan is to make them available at the club desk.

“Cumberland Arches” by Kevin J. Kutz hangs outside the University Club’s second-floor ballroom. The curves echo the ballroom’s arched windows.

The University Club art is an assortment of old, new, borrowed (and yes, a few blue) works dating back to the mid-19th century, selected in collaboration with art consultant Carol Siegel during renovations prior to the club’s opening in 2009. (Pitt purchased the 1923 building in 2005 for $3.1 million, then invested $20.2 million, in part to create both members-only gathering spaces for faculty and staff as well as conference and banquet facilities available for public bookings for parties, weddings and other events.)

Siegel not only helped select the works, but also found the right spaces to show them to their best advantage and coordinate with the club’s décor, McNelis said.

About half of the works are new, including tapestries and prints on canvas purchased for specific spaces in the club. Aside from the restored university seals that once hung in the original University Club bar, the other works either are on loan from the University Art Gallery or once hung in the now-defunct Pitt Club. Housed in the Gardner Steel Conference Center, that faculty and staff club closed in 2003.

Media represented include oils, watercolors, acrylics, tapestries, etchings, prints and photography. The collection is appraised at approximately $40,000, with about half that value attributable to the reused Pitt Club works, McNelis said.

“Pittsburgh Sunset Through Oncoming Storm” by Pittsburgh-based artist Ron Donoughe hangs in the club’s lower lobby.

The pieces on loan from the University’s gallery otherwise might not be in public view. Gallery assistant Hilary Culbertson, a graduate student in history of art and architecture, noted that the University Art Gallery does not have its permanent collection on permanent display, although many works are shown in temporary exhibitions. In addition, many works from the collection are displayed elsewhere on campus as well as at the chancellor’s residence, she noted.

Some of the University Club art depicts local scenes including the Edgar Thomson Works, the Monongahela Incline and the Emsworth Locks. A few show subjects even closer to home: In the club’s main vestibule are a pair of Louis Orr etchings of the Cathedral of Learning and Heinz Chapel and a depiction of the Acropolis campus plan concept envisioned by Henry Hornbostel.

The most visible piece, of course, is the acrylic painting that hangs behind the reception desk. The colorful view of the club building on University Place is a commissioned work by Bedford, Pa., artist Kevin Kutz. Another of his works, the oil painting “Cumberland Arches,” hangs outside the second-floor ballroom.

“Edgar Thomson Works,” also by Ron Donoughe, is on display outside the University Club library.

Another University connection is the Virgil Cantini sculpture that hangs in a third-floor lounge. The late Pitt art professor’s work is prominent in many other locations on campus.

Highlighting the club’s art and its connection to the University Art Gallery could raise awareness and increase the number of visitors to the gallery in the Frick Fine Arts building, McNelis noted. It also could draw attention to the digital archives maintained by the University Library System. The 1909 drawing of the Acropolis plan, which was partially completed before being scrapped in favor of building the Cathedral of Learning, is among many campus images available in the ULS digital library’s “Documenting Pitt” collection at http://digital.library.pitt.edu/d/documentingpitt/.

An untitled sculpture by the late Pitt art professor Virgil Cantini is displayed in one of University Club conference rooms.

Among the new works purchased for the club are reproductions of several plates from John James Audubon’s Birds of America, part of Pitt’s Darlington Library collection. Admirers of these ornithological works can purchase their own through ULS, which sells the reproductions to help fund ongoing preservation work. (Information is available at http://digital.library.pitt.edu/a/audubon.)

—Kimberly K. Barlow

“Early Morning Bear Run,” a watercolor by Wang Yubao, hangs in the University Club vestibule near the Thackeray Street entrance.