University Art Gallery, environmental groups discuss Pittsburgh’s industrial pollution in art

The University Art Gallery hosted an object lesson on Aaron Bohrod’s 1947 painting “Dumping Slag” on Tuesday. The lesson, which took place in the gallery’s study room in the Frick Fine Arts building, focused on the enduring impact of Pennsylvania’s industrial endeavors through an artistic and environmental lens. 

Sylvia Rhor, curator and director of the University Art Gallery, said she organized the object lesson because of her personal appreciation for Bohrod’s painting, as well as the importance of the collection that it is a part of.

“I wanted to bring this object out because … it’s one of my favorite works in the collection,” Rhor said. “It’s part of a subcollection in our collection which is very important called the Gimble Art Collection, which focuses on industries and the landscape of southwestern Pennsylvania and paintings from the mid 20th century.”

Throughout the 45-minute lesson, Rhor repeatedly encouraged hesitant attendees to move closer to the painting, which rested on a cloth in the center of the table. She said the benefit of object lessons over normal exhibits is that they allow for and encourage thorough examination of an artwork.

“Usually when you see, in an exhibit, an artwork, the curator makes sure you can see it from one particular angle,” Rhor said. “Well, what we can do here is look very closely at it together, look behind the work, talk about it as an object with a life.”

Daniel Bain from the Pittsburgh Water Collaboratory and Ron Baraff from Rivers of Steel headed the discussion alongside Rhor. Bain presented various graphs and maps that demonstrated the topographical impact of industry on the local environment, and Baraff provided historical photographs of the region’s industry.

Baraff, director of historic resources and facilities for Rivers of Steel, said the object lesson is necessary because it provides crucial education on Pennsylvania’s industrial history. He added that having knowledge about industrial history enables an understanding of the current environmental state of Pittsburgh, and we have a responsibility to be educated about the past if we want to ensure Pennsylvania’s future as an inhabitable region.

“It’s important that people understand the development of this region … even the University of Pittsburgh existing is built upon this industry,” Baraff said. “Understanding how it got there allows us to understand the challenges at hand, and why the landscape and the rivers and the environment is the way it is, and to be much smarter than those that came before us, and clean it up and leave it in a better place. I want to know that generations to come there’s still people here, enjoying this and thriving.”

Slag, an unwanted byproduct of steel production, is an environmental legacy of Pittsburgh’s famous steel mills. Due to Pittsburgh’s expansive production of steel, places like Nine Mile Run and Century Three Mall became slag dumps. In his painting, Bohrod depicts the moment fiery slag is deposited onto the dark landscape. 

The visual beauty present in Bohrod’s “Dumping Slag” is not inaccurate, but a testament to the duality of the industry, Baraff said.

“It is the hardest landscape, and it is a difficult landscape, but at the same time there’s an aesthetic to it,” Baraff said. “The artist was really able to capture that. It’s very real!”

Emma Carpenter, a senior art history and museum studies major who works at the University Art Gallery, agreed. She said “Dumping Slag” stands out among the artworks in the Gimble Collection because it more accurately portrays Pennsylvania.

“I think a lot of the paintings in the collection are a very idealized image of what Pennsylvania looks like,” Carpenter said. “This is interesting that it’s sprinkled in the collection to kind of show the less idealized side of Pennsylvania and its history.”

Carpenter said the object lesson is critical in showing that there’s a place for both art and activism in conversations about the environment. 

“In the art and museum world there is a lot of pushback from environmentalist groups, and so I feel like a lot of people wouldn’t think about it, but art and environmentalism, all of that, kind of go hand-in-hand a lot,” Carpenter said. “So it’s very important.”

The discourse about “Dumping Slag” remains relevant today because of the long-lasting effect of slag, Rhor said.

“Even though this is an artwork that’s about 80 years old, we are still living with the legacy, both the industrial legacy but also the environmental legacy of [how] slag, in this case, has rot on our environment,” Rhor said. “Even though it seems historical, we are still living with it.”

Rhor said she hopes the object lessons encourage interest in the University Art Gallery’s research, and help establish it as an accessible resource.

“I hope that people know that the University Art Gallery is not just a place to exhibit art, but is a research facility, and that our artworks can be the basis for more research across the university. I also hope that it gives some of these works that we don’t usually see, they almost never come out of storage, a new life, either in research or in future exhibitions,” Rhor said. “So, almost that they think of us like people might think of a library. That you can go and check out a book or look for something that is relevant or can spur more thought or research, and instead of books we have artworks.”

For younger generations, Baraff said remaining steadfast against those that threaten it is the best way to combat the growing environmental crisis. He said there is a place for industry and the environment in Pittsburgh, because their existence, as proven, is not mutually exclusive.

“The most important thing anyone can do is to educate themselves on where they are, and even more so, be willing and able to stand up and say ‘No. There’s a better way.’ We don’t have to keep destroying the landscape and killing ourselves to make a better future,” Baraff said. “Industry doesn’t have to disappear for the environment to survive and thrive — there’s a way to do this to work together. They’ve done it in other places — it can be done here as well.”