Art in Original Buhl Planetarium And Institute of Popular Science, Pittsburgh

• Museum: Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science Pittsburgh Focus: Planetarium

• Description and goals

  Art in Pittsburgh’s Original Buhl Planetarium
  By Glenn A. Walsh
  2008 April

  Science-related art can be used as another tool to
  help explain science topics to the general public.

  When Pittsburgh’s original Buhl Planetarium and
  Institute of Popular Science opened in 1939,
  science-related art was an important part of the new
  institution.

  Sculptor Sidney Waugh was commissioned to produce
  several relief’s on the exterior of the building—

  “Primitive Science” and “Modern Science”
  < http://buhlplanetarium3.tripod.... >

  “The Heavens”
  < http://buhlplanetarium3.tripod.... >

  “The Earth”
  < http://buhlplanetarium3.tripod.... >

  “Day” (above east emergency exit)
  < http://buhlplanetarium4.tripod.... >

  “Night” (above west emergency exit)
  < http://buhlplanetarium3.tripod.... >

  Eight astronomical paintings by Pennsylvania architect
  and artist Daniel Owen Stephens were displayed to the
  public in Buhl Planetarium’s Mezzanine Gallery for the
  entire time Buhl was open as a public museum (1939 to
  1991). Additionally, portraits of Henry Buhl, Jr.
  (whose foundation built Buhl Planetarium, following
  his death) and his wife were also displayed to the
  public in the first floor’s Great Hall (and a second
  Henry Buhl portrait hung in Buhl Planetarium’s
  Library):
  < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.c... >

  Later on, eight astronomical murals, displayed under
  black-light in the Hall of the Universe, were added.
  These are now displayed to the public in the
  Hoover-Price Planetarium in Canton, Ohio.
  < http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.... >
  The artist, Ben Byrer, would also display his
  “Barnwood Paintings” each year from November to
  February, in conjunction with the annual display of
  the very popular Miniature Railroad and Village:
  < http://buhlplanetarium3.tripod.... >

  For several years, PPG Industries sponsored an exhibit
  called “Masterpieces in Glass” which included several
  art works produced in back-lit glass (including one
  Picasso).
  < http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.... >

  “The Rise of Steel Technology” large mural, by Nat H.
  Youngblood, hung on the south wall of the first
  floor’s Great Hall for many years:
  < http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.... >

  At the beginning of the age of satellites, Buhl
  Planetarium displayed murals of two early satellites,
  Explorer VI and Tiros I:
  < http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.... >

  With the 1985 to 1986 apparition of Halley’s Comet,
  industrialist Willard F. Rockwell, Jr. donated a
  painting of Halley’s Comet, he found in England, to
  Buhl Planetarium:
  < http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.... >

  Buhl’s World Globe and large Mercator’s Projection Map
  of the World (considered world’s largest such
  Mercator’s Map, when produced in 1939) were also
  considered works of art at Buhl Planetarium:
  < http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.... >

  And, several of Buhl Planetarium’s permanent and
  temporary exhibits included painted dioramas, to help
  explain the exhibit.

  Additionally, Buhl Planetarium regularly featured
  temporary exhibits such as the annual Allegheny
  Artists League Show and the photography exhibitions,
  “News Pix Salon” and “Nikon’s Small World.”

  This clearly demonstrates that science-related art can
  be another important tool in explaining science to the
  public, a tool that Pittsburgh’s original Buhl
  Planetarium used extensively from the very beginning.

  gaw

• Development process and challenges

  NA

• Lessons learned, mistakes we made (and what we did about them)

  Science-related art can be a great assistance in explaining science topics to the general public, in a planetarium, science center, or museum.

• Exhibition Opened: October 1939

• Traveling Exhibition: No

• Location: Pittsburgh, PA, United States

• Website(s):  http://www.planetarium.cc

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