Allegheny Mountain Arts Gallery, 181 Main St., will exhibit original Great Lakes steamship drawings by Samuel Ward Stanton from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday.
Stanton was an artist recognized for his historically accurate steamship drawings rendered in pen and ink. His drawings are used today to document the size and look of steamships that have no photographic record. They are also used when reproducing or refurbishing a historical ship.
In 1895 Stanton published “American Steam Vessels” in which he included almost 500 illustrations of steamships and data pages. His drawings covered a large area of the country and the majority to be displayed are from the Great Lakes region.
Two of the displayed works, “Black Rock” and “Christopher Columbus,” were included in Stanton’s display at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
His love of steamships took him to study in France for a mural commission he had on the new Hudson River steamer “The Washington Irving.” Unfortunately, his return to the United States was as a second-class passenger on the Titanic and he lost his life April 14, 1912, at 42.
Unlike the fictional artist Jack Dawson portrayed in the movie, Stanton was a real artist who perished on the Titanic.
The public is invited to see his works at the opening Saturday and through December during regular gallery hours, 1 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
