CI/99:00/menu/history

Program cover for the 1950 exhibition.

Alexander Calder won First Prize for Sculpture in 1958 for Pittsburgh.

Director Gordon Bailey Washburn examines Tajiri's Seed No. 3 during the 1961 International.

The popularity of contemporary, art soared during the 1950's. This abstract sculpture is from the 1958 International.

While Saint-Gaudens established important conventions for organizing and managing an exhibition of international scope, it was his successor, Gordon Bailey Washburn, who transformed the Carnegie International into the cutting-edge event that it is today.

Washburn transformed the International through two innovations. First, rather than showing a sample of current work that gave each artistic tendency proportional representation, Washburn focused on what was strictly new. Second, instead of hanging the exhibition by country, works were installed by perceived visual connection without regard to nationality. From what was once known for its conservative content, as Washburn's modernist principles reoriented the show toward abstraction and toward art considered radical by both the traditional and advanced art press.The appetite for modern art exploded during the 1950's and sales of works from the International increased each year of Washburn's tenure, and every instance of record sales were used to rebuke critics who complained that "Abstractionism" was being "pushed down our throats." The Carnegie Institute itself purchased the greatest number of works from the exhibitions, and one of Washburn's first actions as Director of Fine Arts was to create a gallery of contemporary art to house these new works separate from the Museum's collection of masterpieces.

Unfortunately, the International faced problems that hadn't plagued earlier events. Funding an exhibit of such scope became more difficult, and so exhibitions became less frequent -- becoming biennials and triennials.

In addition, Washburn's innovations and the art community's quick adoption of them came at a price. Although the Carnegie International made its mark among the vanguard art institutions of the day, over the next 10 years, the kind of work that had been considered radical in 1952 became accepted by the art world, and Washburn's ideals became part of the establishment.

From his innovative and optimistic first exhibition in 1952, Washburn gradually fell behind an art world that was moving ahead at great speed, and by 1961 it was apparent just how out of step he had become with the most advanced segments of the art community.