This short documentary offers a little about the life of a man whose name is famous in Pittsburgh, my hometown.
Mellon is mainly known for banking and industry, so it was interesting to learn that he was also knowledgeable and generous in the realm of art.
We see here of how he negotiated for masterpieces, and how politics colored his thinking. For example, we're told that in 1929, Stalin needed cash for his Five-Year Plan, and that led to Mellon's purchase of precious works from Leningrad's famed Hermitage Museum.
Although wanting to donate his collection to the public, to establish a national gallery for the United States, the Republican Mellon, a former secretary of the Treasury, came to face tax charges under FDR.
We discern virtually nothing here about the personal life of Mellon, who is portrayed as an observant and savvy deal maker. We do see some rather formal interactions with his elegant daughter Ailsa, but, perhaps understandably, nothing is said of his marriage to a much younger woman, which eventually led to divorce, or of any involvement he had with the fishing club whose dam failure in 1889 was followed by the Johnstown Flood, in which 2,208 died.
Mellon died in 1937, before learning that the tax case was dismissed. In 1941, FDR dedicated the National Gallery of Art. It doesn't bear the philanthropist's name -- at his own request.
Mellon is mainly known for banking and industry, so it was interesting to learn that he was also knowledgeable and generous in the realm of art.
We see here of how he negotiated for masterpieces, and how politics colored his thinking. For example, we're told that in 1929, Stalin needed cash for his Five-Year Plan, and that led to Mellon's purchase of precious works from Leningrad's famed Hermitage Museum.
Although wanting to donate his collection to the public, to establish a national gallery for the United States, the Republican Mellon, a former secretary of the Treasury, came to face tax charges under FDR.
We discern virtually nothing here about the personal life of Mellon, who is portrayed as an observant and savvy deal maker. We do see some rather formal interactions with his elegant daughter Ailsa, but, perhaps understandably, nothing is said of his marriage to a much younger woman, which eventually led to divorce, or of any involvement he had with the fishing club whose dam failure in 1889 was followed by the Johnstown Flood, in which 2,208 died.
Mellon died in 1937, before learning that the tax case was dismissed. In 1941, FDR dedicated the National Gallery of Art. It doesn't bear the philanthropist's name -- at his own request.
