Under Pressure: Contemporary Prints from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation
February 2 - May 19, 2013
Louise and S. O. Beren Gallery
John w. and Mildred L. Graves Gallery
About This Exhibition
Tracing general currents in the art world as well as the most compelling developments in printmaking. Under Pressure explores how prints rose to prominence in recent American art. Spanning the last five decades and bringing together 40 artists who work in wide-ranging media and styles, the exhibition illustrates the print’s versatility and its impact on artists’ broader art-making practices.
With 40 artists and over 100 artworks, the exhibition presents a sterling lineup of who’s who in American art in the past decades. From Jasper Johns and Sol LeWitt and Kiki Smith and Roger Shimomura, Under Pressure charts the artistic and social concerns from minimalism to pop and conceptual art as well as more recent works addressing race, gender, and identity.
Roy Lichtenstein, Bull Profile Series: Bull III, edition 14/100, 1979, Lithograph, screen print, and linecut, 27 x 35 1/16 inches. Collection of the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation. ©Estate of Roy Lichtenstein
About the Collector
Under Pressure represents a small portion of the collection developed by the Portland, Oregon real estate entrepreneur Jordan Schnitzer and his family. Organized by the collector and the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, the exhibition is on tour to select Midwestern museums. Joslyn Art Museum director Jack Becker interviewed collector Jordan Schnitzer about his passion for prints and his remarkable collection.
Becker: Your first artwork purchase was a painting when you were just 14 years old. When did you start collecting prints exclusively? What prompted your interest in prints?
Schnitzer: When I went to first grade, my mother enrolled in the Portland Art Museum Art School. That began this magical art journey for me. After she went to art school, she opened the Foundation Gallery of Art, which featured contemporary Northwest artists in Portland. Under my mother’s tutelage, I learned the importance of supporting our local artists. She taught me that we all need to buy local art so artists can afford to live in our communities. Therefore, when I was 14 years old, I bought a small painting by a local artist, Louis Bunce. On the back, it says, “Bought on the night of June 1, 1965. The first piece of the Schnitzer Collection.” 25 years later, in the 1980s, my mother closed the gallery, and I decided to expand the collection. So, I started buying prints of what I call the New York School, meaning the best of the major contemporary American masters.
Becker: Your collection has a strong focus on American printmaking. Can you discuss the reasoning behind this?
Schnitzer: I am an American! I think the artists in the United State are some of the best, if not the best in the world today. American artists also reflect the themes of our country, of our generation, and of our time. I do have a few artists from outside the United States. But I try to be disciplined, because there is so much fabulous work being produced in this country.
Exhibition Sponsors
Under Pressure has been organized for tour by the Joslyn Museum of Art with the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation. Support for the exhibition and related educational and outreach programs has been made possible by a grant from the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation.
Emprise Bank contributed additional support as the corporate sponsor for the Wichita presentation. Mike and Dee Michaelis also provided funding for Wichita.
All museum exhibitions receive generous sponsorship from Friends of the Wichita Art Museum Endowment Fund and the City of Wichita.
