Hillman Library - Art

Art

A rotating selection of John James Audubon prints from the university's copy of The Birds of America, one of only 120 complete collections in existence, is on view in the library’s ground floor display case. Individual plates from this collection are exhibited for two weeks at a time in order of plate number. Many other graphic and sculptural works are nestled among the stairways and study areas on the building’s upper floors, some of which are on loan from the Carnegie Museum of Art.

Several works of Virgil Cantini are in the library, including a wood and metal sculpture of an arrow-pierced St. Sebastian, located in the first floor stairwell, and a wooden sculpture of the Virgin Mary holding a lamb. Flanking the wall opposite the first floor reference desk are two abstract works: “Modern Warfare” by Kes Zapkus and “Arcing Light” by Albert Stadler. A bronze 1934 self-portrait by Ivan Meštrović can be found on the ground floor. A large bust of Confucius by Chinese artist Li Guangyu and a stone sculpture, “The Sound of Autumn,” by Masayuki Nagare are on the second floor. Near the special collections reading room on the third floor is a selection of early 20th century illustrations in watercolor, charcoal and crayon created to accompany the work of mystery writer Mary Roberts Rinehart. Also on the third floor are works by winners of the A.J. Schneider Studio Arts Award, selected from among entries in the annual student exhibition. Winners agree to allow their work to be displayed for one year in the reading room.

In addition, a folk music concert series entitled The Emerging Legends Series is performed in The Cup & Chaucer café on the ground floor of Hillman Library. The series, a collaboration between the University of Pittsburgh Library System and Calliope: The Pittsburgh Folk Music Society, is free and open to the public.

Tony Smith's 1971 painted steel sculpture Light Up! can be found outside Hillman library in Forbes Quad between the library and Posvar Hall.