Aaron Harry Gorson
American, 1872 - 1933
Aaron Henry Gorson came to the United States in 1890 from his native Lithuania. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Anshutz. In Paris in 1899, he studied at the Academie Colarossi with Jean Paul Laurens, and the Academie Julien with Benjamin Constant.
Returning from Paris in 1903, Gorson settled in Pittsburgh. Known for his nighttime mill paintings of Pittsburgh, Gorson was said to be a favorite among industrialists. Pittsburgh, a city synonymous with industry, remained a leader in steel and iron production, as well as a major railroad center, and Gorson celebrated the workers and the immense factory complexes that sustained it. The industrial landscape remained his favorite theme until he moved to New York in 1921, and his night scenes of the Bessemer furnaces convey the dark beauty of his subjects, some of which he painted at dusk to emphasize a poetic mood. He depicted the magic of smelting and manufacturing, the glowing of the many lights and their effects on the multi-shaped clouds of smoke amid the setting of the curving Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers.
Gorson's paintings of the mills were highly prized by collectors during the last thirty years of his life, and he is remembered today for his achievements in this genre. His work was exhibited in major museums including the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C., Art Institute of Chicago, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and National Academy of Design in New York City. He was an active member of the Art Alliance of America, Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, Brooklyn Art Association, and L'Union Internationale des Beaux Arts et Lettres.
The Carnegie Museum of Art held a retrospective of Gorson’s paintings in 1967, and his work is represented in the permanent collections of in The Heckscher Museum of Art, Newark Museum, The Westmoreland Museum of American Art, and the Worcester Art Museum among others.
Gorson moved to New York City in 1921, where his professional career continued to flourish until his death of pneumonia in 1933.
Returning from Paris in 1903, Gorson settled in Pittsburgh. Known for his nighttime mill paintings of Pittsburgh, Gorson was said to be a favorite among industrialists. Pittsburgh, a city synonymous with industry, remained a leader in steel and iron production, as well as a major railroad center, and Gorson celebrated the workers and the immense factory complexes that sustained it. The industrial landscape remained his favorite theme until he moved to New York in 1921, and his night scenes of the Bessemer furnaces convey the dark beauty of his subjects, some of which he painted at dusk to emphasize a poetic mood. He depicted the magic of smelting and manufacturing, the glowing of the many lights and their effects on the multi-shaped clouds of smoke amid the setting of the curving Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers.
Gorson's paintings of the mills were highly prized by collectors during the last thirty years of his life, and he is remembered today for his achievements in this genre. His work was exhibited in major museums including the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C., Art Institute of Chicago, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and National Academy of Design in New York City. He was an active member of the Art Alliance of America, Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, Brooklyn Art Association, and L'Union Internationale des Beaux Arts et Lettres.
The Carnegie Museum of Art held a retrospective of Gorson’s paintings in 1967, and his work is represented in the permanent collections of in The Heckscher Museum of Art, Newark Museum, The Westmoreland Museum of American Art, and the Worcester Art Museum among others.
Gorson moved to New York City in 1921, where his professional career continued to flourish until his death of pneumonia in 1933.
