Louise Lippincott's guest appearances

Louise Lippincott

PA BOOKS on PCN

Voice of the Arts

Donald Miller

Jennifer Lin

Maxwell King

David Smith

Benjamin Franklin

Ben Franklin

Betsy Ross

Rick Sebak

Mark Epstein

James Buchanan

Heidi Matthews

Walter Isaacson

Richard Bell

Alexander Hamilton

Erica Wagner

OwlTail

Maxwell King and Louise Lippincott discuss with Jim Cunningham their book "American Workman: The Life and Art of John Kane," published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in April 2022. The Pittsburgh based artist was self-taught, an outsider from traditional art circles. Kane was a coal miner, steel worker, a house painter and a rail car painter who created beautiful landscape paintings while boxing, drinking too much and working till the end in 1934. Louise retired as Curator at the Carnegie Museum of Art in 2017 and Maxwell enjoyed success with his biography of Fred Rogers after his career at the top of the Heinz and Pittsburgh Foundations and a distinguished career in newspapers including at the Philadelphia Enquirer. The two describe how they got the book underway, the value of Kane paintings today, where they can be found, what  the must see paintings are, why more Pittsburgh art fans don't know him, whether he was the second most famous Pittsburgh based 20th century artist after Andy Warhol with observations on the success of the Fred Rogers book, whether Louise still plans on writing the trashy novel she had in mind after the rich career she enjoyed in the art world, Kane's radio and music listening and the upcoming Kane exhibits at the Heinz History center and elsewhere.

Maxwell King & Louise Lippincott

"American Workman" presents a comprehensive, novel reassessment of the life and work of one of America's most influential self-taught artists, John Kane. With a full account of Kane's life as a working man, including his time as a steelworker, coal miner, street paver, and commercial painter in and around Pittsburgh in the early twentieth century, the authors explore how these occupations shaped his development as an artist and his breakthrough success in the modern art world. A rough-and-tumble blue-collar man prone to brawling and drinking, Kane also sought out beauty in the industrial world he inhabited. This Kane paradox—brawny and tough, sensitive and creative—was at the heart of much of the public's interest in Kane as a person. The allure of the Kane saga was heightened all the more by the fact that he did not achieve renown until he was at the age at which most people are retiring from their professions. Kane's dedication to painting resulted in a fascinating body of work that has ended up in some of America's most important museums and private collections. His dramatic life story demonstrates the courage, strength, and creativity of his generation of workmen. They may be long gone, but thanks to Kane they cannot be forgotten. Maxwell King is the former editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer and president of the Heinz Endowments. Louise Lippincott is a historian and former curator specializing in American and European art from the Enlightenment to the modern era.

"American Workman" presents a comprehensive, novel reassessment of the life and work of one of America's most influential self-taught artists, John Kane. With a full account of Kane's life as a working man, including his time as a steelworker, coal miner, street paver, and commercial painter in and around Pittsburgh in the early twentieth century, the authors explore how these occupations shaped his development as an artist and his breakthrough success in the modern art world. A rough-and-tumble blue-collar man prone to brawling and drinking, Kane also sought out beauty in the industrial world he inhabited. This Kane paradox—brawny and tough, sensitive and creative—was at the heart of much of the public's interest in Kane as a person. The allure of the Kane saga was heightened all the more by the fact that he did not achieve renown until he was at the age at which most people are retiring from their professions. Kane's dedication to painting resulted in a fascinating body of work that has ended up in some of America's most important museums and private collections. His dramatic life story demonstrates the courage, strength, and creativity of his generation of workmen. They may be long gone, but thanks to Kane they cannot be forgotten. Maxwell King is the former editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer and president of the Heinz Endowments. Louise Lippincott is a historian and former curator specializing in American and European art from the Enlightenment to the modern era.

"American Workman" with Maxwell King & Louise Lippincott