John A. Hermann Jr. Memorial Art Museum

John A. Hermann Museum
Category
Address
318 Lincoln Ave, Bellevue, PA 15202, United States
Phone number
+1 412 761 8008

John Adam Hermann, Jr. was born on the North Side in 1858. He loved art and wanted to spend his entire life painting, but at the age of 18, he obediently went into his father's leather tanning business, located on East Ohio Street, in Allegheny City. He worked at the tannery for 37 years, painting only on weekends in Pittsburgh, Allegheny City, and rural Pennsylvania. At age 55, a lifelong bachelor, he settled his father's estate and could devote the remainder of his life to realizing his early dream of becoming a full-time artist. 

Along with landscape images of Pennsylvania nature, Hermann captured every fountain and statue in watercolor that once stood in Allegheny Park, now the North Side. Beyond the local images, there are a multitude of European landscapes, domestic seascapes, and portraits. When he died in 1942, he generously bequeathed over 1,000 beautifully framed paintings to the Bellevue community and various bronzes and ivories he collected during a later period of world travel and exploration. 

Inside the museum, one may find different collections, including a wide range of Pittsburgh paintings that will bring back sweet memories of past events. Local history is very vivid in this museum, and those who are not familiar with the history of the area will definitely learn many things. Whether you are into European landscapes or local images, whether you search for domestic seascapes or portraits, you will find what you are looking for and way beyond.

John Hermann, the artist, was always growing and exploring his craft until his death in 1942. His determination to keep his work and collection of fine art intact surrounds all museum visitors. John Hermann's prolific collection of oil paintings, sketches, and watercolors, spanning the early 1900s through to his death, is literally a chronicle of earlier times and places.