by Gina McKlveen
Last year, a Walnut Street staple in Shadyside celebrated its 50th year in business. Standing arm in arm outside Maser Galleries, the Maser women, Brenda and her two daughters, Katie and Kristen, reminisced about what this business has meant to them since it first opened.
The building where Maser Galleries is located, 5427 Walnut Street, was a former dry cleaner when Ronald Maser, affectionately known as “Lefty”—a Pittsburgh-area native, McKeesport High School graduate, former University of Pittsburgh student-athlete, and multi-talented visionary, turned the space into the thriving art business it has become.
His wife Brenda explained, “Lefty hammered every board on that wall. Those barn wood walls, every nail was hammered in by him… There was nothing he couldn’t do.” But back then people thought Lefty was out of his mind to open another gallery along Walnut Street, which ironically, was right across the street from an Arts International gallery, his former employer. Doubting Lefty’s can-do attitude, naysayers thought Maser Galleries would be out of business within six months, incapable of withstanding the competition of a powerful chain like Arts International. However, not long after Maser Galleries arrived on Walnut Street, it was Arts International that closed its doors, not Lefty.
Brenda described what Maser Galleries was like on Walnut Street in the 1970s, “When we first opened, Walnut Street then was almost all, if not all, independent owners, many different types of shops, and a lot of hippies. We had lots of arts and crafts items, we had shelves and shelves of crafts and little metal sculptures, paintings on marble, paintings on fungi, we just had all different little things. And as the street evolved, we evolved. So as the more upscale shops came in, so did we. Also, the timing was so perfect because the 70s was a time when art was really exploding and graphics were just coming out like Normal Rockwell, Erte, Simbari, LeRoy Neiman. It was just an amazing time when these limited-edition graphics were available for the first time, and we were on the ground floor of that.”
The artworks of many of these mentioned artists are available for sale at Maser Galleries this weekend during the Annual Shadyside Sidewalk Sale, along with other Pittsburgh natives who’ve achieved reputable success with their art, like Burton Morris, Fritz Keck, and Linda Barnicott.
Since the 50th anniversary celebration, Maser Galleries has shifted into retirement, announcing that it is closing its doors, and offering discounts on their entire collection. Stop by Shadyside this weekend, August 1st-August 3rd, for a special look at the fine art collected right here in Pittsburgh by one of the city’s finest families. Artworks for sale are of limited editions, so don’t swing and miss the opportunity to catch a unique piece of art to add or start your own collection.
-GM
To experience Maser Galleries, visit: https://www.masergalleries.com/ or stop in at 5427 Walnut Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15232 and explore their ongoing retirement sale.
