PITTSBURGH, PA.- Carnegie Museum of Art announces highlights from its new acquisitions, which were approved on December 14. The museum’s collection includes over 30,000 art objects including painting and sculpture; prints and drawings; photographs; architectural casts, renderings, and models; decorative arts and design; and film, video, and digital imagery.

Several highlights from the December 14 acquisitions include:

nendo, ‘Manga chair #49,’ 2016, stainless steel, Edition 2 of 3, Gifts of G. David Thompson, John Baird Hudson and the Hudson Conservancy, and Reverend Alfred Duane Pell, all by exchange

nendo, ‘Scale models of 50 Manga chairs,’ 2016, 3-D printed, thermoplastic, Gift of Allan Gerdau, by exchange
Manga, or “humorous picture,” is a popular style of Japanese comic book art. The details of characters (eyes, hair, and other body parts) are exaggerated for comedic or dramatic effect. With the group of 50 Manga chairs, design agency nendo mimics the qualities of manga comics. The chairs are happy, distressed, embarrassed, and surprised. CMOA has acquired a full set of 50 1/10 scale models representing each manga chair, along with one full-size chair, Manga chair #49, designed with flopping arms resting humorously at each side. –Rachel Delphia, The Alan G. and Jane A. Lehman Curator of Decorative Arts and Design

Lorraine O’Grady, ‘Untitled (Mlle Bourgeoise Noire),’ 1980–1983, printed 2009, 14 gelatin silver prints, Second Century Acquisition Fund and the Mr. and Mrs. Peter Denby Fund for Contemporary Art
Lorraine O’Grady has been recognized as a significant player both in the fields of conceptual art and feminist art. Untitled (Mlle Bourgeoise Noire) documents her guerrilla performance as the character Mlle Bourgeoise Noire (Miss Black Middle-Class) occupying the space of museum openings where people of color and women have historically been marginalized or excluded. See this work now in 20/20: The Studio Museum in Harlem and Carnegie Museum of Art in CMOA’s Heinz Galleries. –Eric Crosby, The Richard Armstrong Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, and Hannah Turpin, curatorial assistant

Peter Salter, ‘Early Sectional Elevation, Walmer Yard Housing, London,’ 2004, Ink, pencil, and acrylic on architectural paper, Drue Heinz Trust
Renowned for his meticulous drawings and atmospheric architecture, Peter Salter recently completed four townhouses on Walmer Road in West London. The Heinz Architectural Center is delighted to add to its collection a set of plans and a cross section of this complex project as well as a characteristically poetic working drawing of the lower street façade. –Raymund Ryan, curator of architecture

William Henry Fox Talbot, ‘Oak Tree in Winter,’ 1842–1843, Salted paper print from a calotype negative, Gift of the William Talbott Hillman Foundation
Considered to be one of the inventors of photography, William Henry Fox Talbot drew on his knowledge of art history, botany, chemistry, and optics to produce the first ever photographic work on paper. The particular choice of subject for this photograph must have come easily; Talbot once wrote, “Old oak trees are very much to my taste.” See this work now in William Henry Fox Talbot and the Promise of Photography in CMOA’s Gallery One. –Dan Leers, curator of photography

Max Weber, ‘The Discussion,’ 1918, Graphite and gouache on paper, The Foster Charitable Trust Fund
This is a work of cubist abstraction, but the title tells us there’s more to it. Its line and form and space and color and texture are complex and beautiful; and so, perhaps, is the relationship between two individuals sharing an aperitif and a conversation. I recommended its acquisition for its strength and freshness of color, and because it exemplifies early cubism. In addition, it is the first cubist work in our collection by this important American modernist, and it comes with a Pittsburgh provenance. –Louise Lippincott, curator of fine art