A Fountain of Creativity

During the early twentieth century, the arts community in Oregon was small and, isolated, and offered few opportunities for artists to exhibit and sell their work. While the Portland community valued public engagement with arts and culture, establishing an art museum, symphony, and a public library, local artists were isolated from the wider national art community due to a lack of commercial gallery space to show and sell their work.

Decades later, in 1961, Arlene Schnitzer, along with her mother Helen Director and friend Edna Brigham, started the Fountain Gallery. The commercial art gallery, named after its location near the Skidmore Fountain, became a hub for Pacific Northwest modern artists and helped raise the status of the Portland art scene.

Arlene’s son, Jordan Schnitzer, purchased his first work of art when he was fourteen years old. It was through her and her gallery that his initial acquisition turned into a lifelong pursuit to collect, share, and promote the visual arts. Jordan Schnitzer is now recognized as one of the Top 200 Collectors globally (ARTnews). His collection, one of the most notable in North America, functions as a living archive to preserve art for future generations and share it with the public through groundbreaking exhibitions, publications, and programs.

Arlene Schnitzer was quoted as saying, “A city without an art community has no soul.” Honoring her legacy and influence on the history of Portland, A Fountain of Creativity features a range of bold, evocative, and influential works created by Pacific Northwest artists from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation — many on public display for the first time. Featuring notable artists such as Louis Bunce, Carl Morris, Hilda Morris, Mike Russo, and Mel Katz, this original trio of exhibitions reflects the enduring legacy of Arlene Schnitzer and the Fountain Gallery and the ways that her work has helped feed the soul of Portland and of arts and culture across the state.