Renovations At Old Carnegie Library Uncover Lost Works Of Art
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A piece of Pittsburgh art history, which had been lost for decades, has now been found.
Workers are renovating the old Carnegie Library on the North Side to become part of the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh.
But what they didn't expect to find were five old portraits.
The paintings are of literary greats like Elinor Wylie and Francis Parkman.
The paintings had been missing for years.
"We wanted them to do some selective demolition so we could understand what we had to deal with behind the plaster renovation that was done in the '70s," said Chris Cieslak, of the Children's Museum. "They'd taken down a little bit at the top of the soffit, and we could see the heads peeking out up above the soffit. I said, 'Okay, I see some heads up there.'"
The paintings were done by artist Elizabeth Black.
The Works Progress Administration funded a program to paint poets and authors back in the 1930s.
There were originally 25 portraits, but only five are still visible on the walls.
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