Portland Art Museum Exhibit Will Highlight Contemporary Art from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer

by Elisa Klein | Mar 14, 2025 | Features, News, Upcoming Events

Portland, OR. Opening in September 2025, the Portland Art Museum (PAM) presents Global Icons, Local Spotlight: Contemporary Art from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer, an exhibition that shares works from Oregon’s foremost fine art collector by some of today’s leading artists with local Portland audiences. The exhibition opens September 6, 2025, and will be on view through January 11, 2026.

Highlighting recent acquisitions from the collections of Jordan Schnitzer and his Family Foundation, the exhibition includes more than 75 works—some of which have never previously been exhibited—by celebrated artists of the 20^th century, such as Louise Bourgeois, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, and Robert Rauschenberg, in addition to contemporary luminaries such as Nick Cave, Jenny Holzer, Mickalene Thomas, and Hank Willis Thomas.

Schnitzer, who has been named an ARTnews Top 200 art collector globally, is a lifelong Portland resident, local business owner and Oregon’s foremost fine art collector. His collaboration with PAM to exhibit these collections is an extension of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation’s mission to share art with audiences across the globe.

“Instead of having to travel to New York City to go to the Museum of Modern Art or the Whitney, all you have to do is visit the Portland Art Museum to see exceptional artwork by some of today’s biggest artists,” said Jordan Schnitzer. “Each year, when I collect new works, I think about how to share them with museums across the country through the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation exhibition program. My hope is that they will inspire audiences who might not otherwise have the opportunity to see works by these amazing artists.”

The exhibition features works across various media including paintings, textiles and tapestries, sculpture, photography, glass, ceramics, mixed media, and more, many of which will be shown publicly for the first time. Additional artists in the exhibition include Roy Lichtenstein, Jeff Koons, Helen Frankenthaler, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Dinh Q. Lê, Julie Mehretu, and Tschabalala Self. The wide array of artists represented in this presentation includes numerous women, Native American and Black artists, and other artists of color, building on PAM’s own work to spotlight underrepresented artists who represent the myriad communities that comprise Oregon.

“Portland Art Museum is a vital cultural resource for the region, which is why we are thrilled to partner with the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation collection to provide our community more opportunities to access and find inspiration in the art that brings the world to Portland,” said Brian Ferriso, Director. “Jordan and his family have long been ardent supporters of the Museum and our city, and we are grateful for his collaboration with PAM to further our mission to engage and enrich Portland’s diverse communities through art.”

Other notable works in the exhibition include Christopher Myers’ immersive and mesmerizing installation Let the Mermaids Flirt with Me, on view for only the second time since debuting at Art Basel Miami in 2022. Featured in the Museum’s grand Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Sculpture Court, the installation is a suite of stained glass paintings in lightboxes installed within a freestanding octagonal architectural structure, creating a chapel for contemplation of the illuminated compositions.

Several of the artists featured in the exhibition have previously exhibited works at PAM or are represented within PAM’s encyclopedic collection, including Hank Willis Thomas, with whom PAM organized a traveling solo exhibition in 2019, and Jeffrey Gibson, whose work PAM commissioned and exhibited at the Museum in 2023 before serving as co-commissioner for his exhibition for the U.S. Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (the Venice Biennale).

Here’s a video from Oregon Arts Beat

PAM has also previously featured works from the collections of Jordan Schnitzer in its exhibitions including En Suite: Contemporary Prints from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and The Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation (2001), Location/Dislocation: Recent Prints from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and The Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation (2003), Minimalism/Postminimalism: Selections from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation (2007), Ellsworth Kelly Prints (and Paintings) (2012), Anish Kapoor: Prints from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer (2015), Andy Warhol Prints (2016), Josiah McElheny’s Cosmic Love (2018), and Jeffrey Gibson: To Name An Other (2022).

Global Icons, Local Spotlight will be on view during the opening in late 2025 of PAM’s larger campus expansion and renovation project, which will add almost 100,000 square feet of new or upgraded public and gallery space, provide new ways to experience the Museum’s robust collection, offer updated amenities that address the needs of more diverse audiences, and increase access to exhibitions and programs.

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