The Broderie.
Triumph Tulip “Princess Irene.”
The East Room. If you look closely, you will notice some curious breaks in the leaves to the right. This extreme wide-angle shot was made from multiple photographs, and the leaves were moving in the breeze.
Poor Man’s Orchid: Schizanthus × wisetonensis “Star Parade.”
Double daffodil “Westward.”
Delphinium elatum “Guardian Blue.”
Late tulip (Tulipa tarda).
Trumpet daffodil “Dutch Master.”
Toadflax: Linaria reticulata “Flamenco.”
Giuseppe Moretti’s sculpture of Hygeia stands in Schenley Park as a memorial to the physicians who served in the First World War.
Meconopsis “Lingholm,” planted in the Palm House for the Spring Flower Show.
Now converted to loft apartments and known as “The Cork Factory,” this landmark of industrial architecture was designed by Frederick Osterling. Here we see it from Washington’s Landing on a grey day. Since the weather was mopey, Father Pitt decided to make this picture look as much as possible as though it could have been made in 1901, when the buildings were new; but in fact it was taken just this afternoon.
“Frizzle Sizzle Blue Swirl”
These pictures were all taken with the Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3, which, as old Pa Pitt never tires of mentioning, he bought for 99¢.
Father Pitt disclaims all responsibility for the names of these cultivars.
“Hip Hop Cranbunny”
“Spring Matrix Midnight Glow”
It seems to Father Pitt that it is about time for an orchid, so here is a Phragmipedium hybrid.
The Tower at PNC Plaza under construction in March of 2015. In front of it, three of the Fourth Avenue towers: the Benedum-Trees Building (1905, architect Thomas H. Scott), the Investment Building (1927, architect John M. Donn), and the Arrott Building (1902, architect Frederick Osterling).
Chocolate comes from this tree, Theobroma cacao, here seen growing in the Fern Room at Phipps Conservatory. Each of those fruits bears a number of bitter seeds, known as “cocoa beans,” from which chocolate is made. The Phipps tree is unusually productive.
Until April 4, the Frick is hosting an exhibit called “Impressionist to Modernist: Masterworks of Early Photography.” The “early” part is debatable—the exhibit begins in the 1880s and concludes in the 1930s, by which time photography was already a century old. Father Pitt would call these works “middle” photography. There is no room for debate on the quality of the exhibit itself: all the artistic possibilities of photography as a medium are on display. It was enough to inspire old Pa Pitt to try some work in black and white, so here are some ducks:
Well, it’s not Steichen, but Father Pitt liked the ripply reflections of cattail stalks.
A good number of artists have been born in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area, and some of them even have large museums here dedicated to their works. (Father Pitt is thinking, of course, of the John A Hermann, Jr., Memorial Art Museum in Bellevue. What were you thinking of?) But we could argue that the one who made the most lasting contribution to the city of his own free will was John White Alexander, whose mural composition Apotheosis of Pittsburgh covers thousands of square feet in the splendid Grand Staircase in the Carnegie. Alexander was born in Allegheny in 1856, and the Grand Staircase was his last significant work, so we can say that he began and ended his work here. A rather fawning (but perhaps justifiably so) 1908 article in The International Studio describes the high position he had reached in the world of art, and gives us good monochrome reproductions of a number of Alexander’s works, especially portraits. Here is an album of those pictures, in tribute to one of Pittsburgh’s great artists.
Portrait of Mrs. H.
Portrait of Fritz (Frits) Thaulow.
Portrait: Sisters.
Portrait of Walt Whitman.
Portrait of Miss R.
Pen Sketch of Mark Twain.
Portrait of Miss B.
Portrait of Mrs. R.
Fragment of Decoration, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh.
