Aaron Gorson 

(1872-1933) 

One lesson that the collector with limited financial means learns is to identify interesting artists that a major gallery has decided to “adopt” and aggressively promote, and then to search for that artist in other galleries. Spanierman Gallery is a master of promotion and began supporting a little-known Pittsburgh artist named Aaron Gorson in 1967. Gorson’s unique muse was the open-hearth blast furnaces belching fire and sparks at night. He blended the most raw realities of Steel City with an almost poetic interpretation on canvas. His work was highly praised and nationally sought after. In 1973 I uncovered this piece at Kennedy Gallery, seemingly ignored, poorly framed, and priced at $750. As mentioned in another section, the Rolodex was a great way to search the racks; coupled with being able to decipher the price code, it made my forays to Kennedy’s productive. Now that inventories and price lists are all computerized, some of the fun is gone. There were some advantages to “the good old days.”