The Pittsburgh school system has uncovered some unexpected treasure. Henri Le Sidaner’s work was purchased  in the 1930s by a Pittsburgh charity, Friends of Art, that donated it to the school system where the work has survived anonymously for 80 years

The Friends of Art — a long-standing nonprofit group that acquires art and donates it to the district to inspire students — bought the painting after it was displayed in the 1933 Carnegie International art exhibition here.

The artwork was considered “missing” in art circles since.

“It was really great it turned up and we know where it is now,” said Louise “Lulu” Lippincott, curator for fine arts at Carnegie Museum of Art. “There are all these really neat treasures buried all over Pittsburgh, and it’s great when one pops up.”

The district approached Lippincott in the fall about the best way to deal with its collection. That’s how she learned it had “Interior.”

Sotheby’s to auction painting found hanging in office at Pittsburgh Public Schools (Tribune)