art Archives - Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine

The Plastic Club: Advancing Women Artists for 125 Years

Posted by Patricia Ricci on Dec 15, 2022 in | Comments Off In 1898 The History of the Woman’s Club Movement in America noted an unusual development in Pennsylvania. “There are in America many clubs for the furtherance of art interests — painters’ clubs, sculptors’ clubs, illustrators’ clubs — from which women are excluded. Philadelphia possesses an art club that excludes men. The Plastic Club, formed in the spring of 1897, has on its list of one hundred...
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Editor’s Letter

Posted by Kyle Weaver on Dec 15, 2022 in | Comments Off As Pennsylvania Heritage moves into its 49th year of publication with this issue, we present three features about Keystone State phenomena that are marked by longevity and progression through the years. One of the highlights of the first wave of the movement for women’s rights in Pennsylvania was the 1897 founding of the Plastic Club for women artists in Philadelphia. At the time, most women who...
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Editor’s Letter

Posted by Kyle Weaver on Mar 9, 2020 in | Comments Off Football, fine art, and festivals. Throughout the years, Pennsylvanians have received national acclaim in all three fields. Each has become a vital part of our shared heritage, engaging residents and representing the commonwealth’s rich and diverse culture. In this edition, you’ll find three outstanding features on prominent examples of these activities in the Keystone State. Football has been...
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Sol Mednick’s Photography

Posted by Kyle Weaver on Jan 14, 2020 in | Comments Off In the mid-1950s, photographer Sol Mednick (1916–70) created this untitled gelatin silver print. Although no documentation has been found that describes the process by which the artist composed this mysterious, abstract image, it is clear that the camera was not the only tool used to achieve the strange effects in its composition. During the darkroom printing process Mednick apparently exposed...
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Sydney Ware, Eastern State Penitentiary Artist

Posted by Richard Saylor on Dec 17, 2019 in | Comments Off Built in the 1820s as part of a new type of prison system, Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia was founded on the belief that prisoners could be rehabilitated during incarceration through separate confinement and industrious labor. During the penitentiary’s span of operation, 1829–1971, numerous records were compiled about the inmates and maintained at the prison, including statistics on...
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Editor’s Letter

Posted by Kyle Weaver on Dec 17, 2019 in | Comments Off Welcome to the first issue of the 45th volume of Pennsylvania Heritage. Since the publication of the premiere edition of December 1974, more than 750 features on Pennsylvania history, culture and natural history by leading authors in their fields, as well as hundreds of columns and news items, have been printed in our quarterly magazine. In this anniversary edition we continue our tradition of...
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Harriet Lane Johnston: The Legacy of a White House Hostess

Posted by Jack Brubaker on Oct 29, 2019 in | Comments Off On the cool, overcast day of May 9, 2017, a dozen nurses from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center arrived by bus at Green Mount Cemetery, a leafy 19th-century oasis in center city Baltimore. They carried a generous bouquet of flowers to decorate the grave of Harriet Lane Johnston, niece of James Buchanan (1791–1868), Pennsylvania’s only U.S. president. “Without Harriet Lane, we don’t know what...
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Art of the State 2017

Posted by Sean Adkins on Aug 22, 2017 in | 0 comments Art of the State, the annual juried exhibition at The State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, Dauphin County, marked its 50th occurrence this year, showcasing 130 works selected from more than 2,200 submissions. Since 1968 the museum has served as the venue each year for Pennsylvania artists to share their ideas and engage viewers through a diverse body of artwork (see “Representing...
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Editor’s Letter

Posted by Kyle Weaver on Jun 13, 2017 in | Comments Off Historical research is often motivated by a personal connection to a subject. Two articles in this issue of Pennsylvania Heritage come from authors who have investigated individuals significant to their own lives and found links to broader themes in Pennsylvania history. David D. Hursh became intrigued by his maternal great-grandfather, Rudolph M. Hunter, after years of hearing family lore about...
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Representing Pennsylvania’s “Precious Heritage”: Art of the State 50

Posted by Amy Hammond on Jun 13, 2017 in | Comments Off Art of the State is an annual juried exhibition that has been showcasing the work of Pennsylvania’s artists at The State Museum of Pennsylvania since 1968. The body of art that has been exhibited reflects half a century of creative endeavor in the Keystone State. Through the years, exhibitors have shared their ideas and engaged viewers in the categories of painting, photography, craft,...
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