Standard Petroleum Refinery, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
c. 1865
Medium
stereoscopic albumen prints
Dimensions
image/sheet (each): 7.9 × 8 cm (3 1/8 × 3 1/8 in.) mount: 8.1 × 17.1 cm (3 3/16 × 6 3/4 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund
Accession Number
2017.93.18
Art Historical Context
Step into the smoky heart of industrial dawn with *Standard Petroleum Refinery, Pitts, Pennsylvania*, a captivating pair of stereoscopic album prints by Thomas H., created around 1865. This diminutive yet dynamic image—each print measuring just 7.9 × 8 cm on a 8.1 × 17.1 cm mount—capt the sprawling refinery in Pittsburgh, a booming hub of the young oil industry. Amid towering smokestacks and vast storage tanks, it freezes a pivotal moment when Pennsylvania's black gold fueled the nation's economic surge following the 1859 oil discovery. Johnson's work exemplifies early industrial photography,...
About the Artist
Thomas H. Johnson · 1860–1870
Thomas H. Johnson was an American artist active in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Working during a period of considerable vitality in American art — when landscape painting, genre scenes, and printmaking were all flourishing — Johnson contributed to a visual culture that was expanding rapidly alongside the nation itself. The specifics of Johnson's training are not fully documented, th...