As possessions pass from one generation to the next, personal values, social hierarchies, and belief systems do too. In 1895, industrialist Andrew Carnegie, who amassed his wealth from steel, established the Carnegie Institute and inscribed on its stone edifice, “Gift to the People of Pittsburgh.” In his dedication speech for the building, he also stated, “Nothing is given for nothing,” prompting the question: What did he expect in exchange?
The artworks chosen for this gallery span different periods in the museum’s collecting history. Through their selection and their relation to each other, the artworks invite reflections, questions, and conversations about the social and personal dimensions of inheritance, gifts, and exchange. How have artists responded to the region’s inherited legacy of steel and the repercussions of extractive resource industries more broadly? What ideas of art, beauty, and culture do the objects on view here perpetuate or disrupt as time passes? What choices are possible today based on decisions of the past? And what impact will our decisions have on future generations of inheritors?
