“Art historian Kenneth Neal's A Wise Extravagance chronicles the first six years of the enterprise's history. . . in a lively, spirited manner. Very well written and a fascinating account, [the book] relates the institution and the exhibition series to the social and intellectual context of their day, and to the ambitions, predilecitons, and personalities of the key players involved. Vivid depictions: the city of Pittsburgh, the angry artists, the miffy critics. Vivid the sense that even today so little has really changed. . . . Part of the pleasure . . . is the way in which each topic is brought so energetically to life—anecdotal, sparkling thread-togethers of the dusty records brought to life.”
—New Art Examiner

“Not only is the material original and the book one that promises to be useful to scholars, but also the literary handling of the material is of an order far beyond what one usually finds-one can actually read this text with pleasure.”
—Henry Adams, author of Thomas Hart Benton: An American Original