Pittsburgh arts scene

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was founded in the eighteenth century at the place where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers converge to form the Ohio. An industrial and manufacturing giant for many decades thereafter, the city was home to some of the largest steel tycoons of the late nineteenth and earl twentieth centuries. One of these men, Andrew Carnegie, left the city a legendary bequest that ensured its continued cultural prosperity far beyond his death. But few people know that while building the many museums and cultural centers bearing his name, Mr. Carnegie did not, as many philanthropists did, acquire any original works of art — he didn’t see the point. Recreations, to his mind, were just as good for the people of Pittsburgh. Ironically, since Carnegie’s day, the city is responsible for producing such original talents as Stephen Foster, Andy Warhol, August Wilson, and Barbara Cook.