Behind the art: Artist's eye views Pittsburgh yard as peaceful cloister
Jun. 18—(Editor's note: Behind the Art is a recurring series highlighting artistic works throughout the county.)
"Quaint Courtyard on Dithridge" is "a beautiful, beautiful cityscape," said Barbara Nakles of the Ottmar F. Von Fuehrer oil painting that depicts a backyard scene from Pittsburgh's Oakland section.
The artwork was a 1956 acquisition of the Greater Latrobe School District Special Art Collection and hangs in a hallway at the high school.
"It's a lovely, peaceful scene in the midst of the city," said Nakles, a member and former longtime chair of the GLSD Art Conservation Trust, which oversees the collection.
At the center of the sun-dappled courtyard is a flowering tree, shading a bed of blooming spring flowers, with sunlight playing on the tightly spaced houses surrounding the greenery.
The play of light and shadow is a signature element of Von Fuehrer's work, Nakles said.
The triangular shape of the garden draws the viewer's eye into the painting, where the still figure of a girl is seen, standing in the background.
The University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning looms above the residential neighborhood, suggesting the life of the city beyond the quiet haven.
The scene is reminiscent of a cloister, a secluded garden in the middle of a medieval monastery where the monks would have walked and meditated, according to the collection catalogue.
Born in Austria, Von Fuehrer studied biology at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna before arriving in Pittsburgh to study art at the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University).
As the longtime staff artist at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Von Fuehrer did numerous dinosaur murals and many backgrounds for the wildlife dioramas.
He painted the tyrannosaurus rex that towered over the museum's Dinosaur Hall for many years.
Von Fuehrer also was known as a landscape and portrait artist and was a frequent exhibitor in Pittsburgh, especially with the Pittsburgh Watercolor Society. He served as a staff artist consultant for the Natural History Museum in Vienna and the Florida State Museum in Gainesville.
On his vacations, he traveled and painted in places such as Florida, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.
Von Fuehrer retired from the museum in 1965 and died in Pittsburgh in 1967 at age 71.
The GLSD special art collection also includes his oil painting, "Mimi," the portrait of a young woman in a delicate white dress seated on a wilderness rock outcropping. It was acquired in 1944 and hangs above the entrance to the high school auditorium.
Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley by email at smcmarlin@triblive.com or via Twitter .
