Images(4)

Painting

Object number2018.46.1

Artist Albert C. Daschbach (1872 - 1960)

Date1946

MediumOil paint; Masonite; Wood; Metal

Credit LineGift of James M. Daschbach on behalf of the extended family of A.C. Daschbach

DescriptionFramed oil painting on Masonite. Nearly square. Painting depicts steel mill scene with river curving through left center bordered by steel mills on either shoreline; river has bridge at center of painting. Numerous smoke stacks throughout. Steel mill area on left side of river has orange fire blast, and mill area on right side of river has white and dark gray billowing steam and smoke. Railroad lines run diagonally through foreground. Painting has overall blue cast. Reverse is undecorated brown Masonite. Thin silver painted wooden frame.DimensionsHeight x Width x Depth (Framed): 38.5 × 36.188 × 1.25 in. (97.8 × 91.9 × 3.2 cm)
Height x Width (Sight size): 35.75 × 33.438 in. (90.8 × 84.9 cm)
SignedArtist signature painted in bottom right corner "1946 / ACD".
Historical NotesPainting of a steel mill scene, most likely Jones and Laughlin on the South Side. Albert C. Daschbach was born on August 8, 1872 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Joseph Daschbach and Rose Curry, Albert was the eldest son in the family that eventually grew to 10 children. It was at Crafton High School where he met Estelle McCloskey, his future bride and mother of their nine children. In 1890, at the age of 18, he left home to enroll at St. Charles College near Baltimore. After two years there, he transferred to the College of St. Thomas with the intention of preparing for ordination and priesthood. However, in January of 1893, he had apparently found that was not to his liking, returned home and soon enrolled at St. Vincent’s College, Latrobe, PA. He completed that school year, then in August 1893, he turned to preparing for a career in law as he began a mentoring program led by an attorney at the law office of Mr. Kennedy, Attorney at Law, St. Nicholas Building, Pittsburgh, PA. In 1897, Albert left the field of law and became a reporter for the Pittsburgh Post which in time became the Pittsburgh Dispatch. At the time of his marriage to Estelle in 1903, he was employed as a real estate salesman with the Thornburg Land Development Co. Later he was employed by Keck, Heile & Daschbach, a real estate company that dealt not only with real estate, but also with insurance, mortgages and building management with offices in the Diamond Bank Building in Pittsburgh. In 1929 his career made another change when he went to work for General Outdoor Advertising Company. A member of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, Albert was also a singer, played the piano, and acted in a few stage shows. He was a writer of poetry and a fan of many writers of his day, including Robert Louis Stevenson and Robert Browning. It is not known when he started painting, but his early work often depicts mill scenes, his father had worked at Jones and Laughlin for over 50 years. In later years he turned to pastoral scenes, especially those that he could see outside his studio in the family home in Thornburg, Pennsylvania.

Related institution Jones and Laughlin Steel Company

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