University chancellors turn into art for anniversary

Students and alumni will have the chance to put faces to the names that grace plaques and…

Kenny Ong | Visual Editor

Pitt’s “Faces to Names” art exhibition portrays the University’s chancellor’s.

Students and alumni will have the chance to put faces to the names that grace plaques and buildings across campus as a result of the indelible mark they have left on the University.

Inside the Frick Fine Arts Building and past the cloister and frescoes of art that dot the walls is an exhibit titled “Faces to Names: 225 Years of Pitt Chancellors’ Portraits (1787-2012)” — an art exhibition comprised of portraits illustrating a number of presidents and chancellors from Pitt’s origin to today. The exhibit also includes a number of smaller works, including sketches of the Cathedral of Learning and watercolors that display the Nationality Rooms — both of which symbolize the University.

The exhibit is a product of the collaboration between the University Art Gallery and the Chancellor’s Office, a collaboration that came into existence because of a University-wide search for ways to celebrate the school’s history. According to the exhibit’s curator, Isabelle Chartier, the exhibit was a “team-effort” and is meant to “give [the Pitt community] a good sense of the University and, in a way, the city of Pittsburgh, as well,” she said.

Katheryn Linduff, a professor in the Department of History of Art and Architecture, explained that “Since the HAA department is the keeper of the [University Art Gallery] collections, and we had an existing collection of the chancellors portraits, we decided to make this our contribution to Pitt’s 225th anniversary.”

The portraits span from Pitt’s earliest days as the Pittsburgh Academy run by principal James Mountain, to today as a premier University with current chancellor, Mark Nordenberg.

Chartier gave the exhibit a unique spin by not arranging the portraits in chronological order. Instead, she decided to arrange them in a visual manner, in an effort “to have people engage with each individual painting, looking at them for what they are.” In this sense, the HAA department was able to include a historical contribution to the 225th anniversary.

The combination of both history and artistic individuality makes the portraits of the chancellors such an intriguing exhibit. Janet McCall, a visiting professor and director of the Society for Contemporary Craft, believes that “these portraits are fascinating time capsules that can be ‘read’ over time. When you look at these portraits of leaders, you reflect on what their hopes and aspirations were for the University during their tenure and how the artists attempted to convey those aspirations.”

In addition to their ability to combine art with history, the portraits literally put names to faces as the title of the exhibit implies. While walking through the gallery, people will be quick to recognize many names with previous chancellors such as Wesley Posvar, William Jacob Holland, Edward H. Litchfield and Hugh Henry Brackenridge, all of whom have buildings named after them.

The exhibit allows the entire Pitt community to not only put faces to names, but to reflect on the contributions that these men had in creating the University as we know it.