Electric Furnaces

Object number90.47.13

Date1984

MediumOil on canvas

Credit LineMuseum Purchase with funds from the Laurel Foundation and the Pittsburgh Foundation

DescriptionFramed rectangular oil painting on canvas depicting two electric furnaces and the interior of a steel mill.Dimensions16 x 24 in. (40.6 x 61 cm)
SignedSigned lower right: "Tom Dawson 9-84".
Marks"13" on top, left stretcher.

Impressed in wood of stretcher on side, bottom left: "Fredrix 24"; on bottom right "Fredrix 30" (upside down).

Frame has text on right side: "HECHO EN MEXICO 24x40 89950".
Label TextBorn on 27th Street on the South Side in 1923, Tom Dawson grew up in the shadow of the J&L steel mills. Following military service in World War II, he went to work in the mills, starting at the Eliza Furnace, then operated cranes in the Open Hearth Plant at Jones & Laughlin. He alternated millwork with commercial artwork after attending the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. The realization to paint what he knew best, the steel mills, came to him in the 1970s, when he produced a series of oils depicting the open hearth department, newer electric furnaces, and the men that worked in these areas with him. The paintings speak eloquently of a crucial time in Pittsburgh’s steelmaking heritage, linking the past and the future.

Related institution Jones and Laughlin Steel Company

Related institution Art Institute of Pittsburgh

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