Colorful Contemporary Art Pops Off Walls in New Exhibit At Davenport’s Figge Museum
Fifty-six years ago, Jordan D. Schnitzer bought his first artwork from his mother’s contemporary art gallery in Portland, Ore.
Some of Andy Warhol’s famous Campbell’s soup cans in the new Figge art exhibit.
Today, the multi-millionaire philanthropist has a collection of 19,000 paintings, sculptures and prints – 128 of which are in a dazzling Pop Art exhibit at Davenport’s Figge Art Museum, 225 W. 2nd St.
The museum is hosting an exclusive members-only preview Friday, June 25, to open the powerhouse exhibition, which opens to the public on Saturday. Advance tickets are encouraged and available (as part of admission to the entire place) at www.figgeartmuseum.org.
“As much joy as I get from seeing the art, I get even more joy from sharing it,” Schnitzer said in a Thursday interview from the varied modern-art exhibit, on the Figge’s fourth and second
A 2006 Superman painting by Mel Ramos.
floors.
With his first exhibit at the Figge, the 70-year-old collector and real estate magnate said he was blown away by the 16-year-old landmark in downtown Davenport. “It’s stunning outside; the spaces are fabulous,” Schnitzer said, noting he’s here through the weekend. “The community is lucky to have a world-class regional museum in its midst.”
Pop Art pioneers Roy Lichtenstein, Takashi Murakami, Andy Warhol, and more will truly pop at the Figge this summer with Pop Power from Warhol to Koons: Masterworks from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation.
The works – including from Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst and Robert Indiana – have never been seen in the Quad-Cities before.
Roy Lichtenstein (American (1923-1997). “Sweet Dreams Baby!,” plate 1 from the Portfolio 11 Pop Artists, Vol. III, edition 54/200, 1965. screenprint. 37 7/8 x 27 5/8 in. Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein
“The Pop artists whose works are on display are iconic—women and men whose art has been revered and admired across the globe,” said Michelle Hargrave, executive director of the Figge.
“As we open our museum to full capacity once again, we are so thrilled to offer the Quad-Cities an opportunity to see art that will provoke conversations, no matter one’s age,” she said. “This is an exhibition we are sure will be adored by art enthusiasts and those visiting the Figge for the first time.”
“It is, frankly, a cool and wildly exciting exhibition to welcome our community indoors at the Figge this
Jordan Schnitzer reflected in the Andy Warhol 1981 self-portrait, “The Shadow.”
summer,” she added.
Pop Power from Warhol to Koons features works from the largest private collection of Pop and Neo-Pop in the nation and demonstrates that the Pop aesthetic first imagined in the 1960s is as popular today as ever, a Figge release said.
“It pays tribute to the range of visual art from the serious to the humorous, making the style both revolutionary and accessible,” the museum said.
Schnitzer’s foundation was established in 1997 as a non-profit to manage the collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, provide supplemental funding for education and outreach in conjunction with related exhibitions, and publish scholarly texts. Since the program’s inception, the foundation has organized over 110 exhibitions and has art exhibited at over 150 museums.
Schnitzer is president of Harsch Investment Properties, a privately owned real estate investment company based in Portland, which owns and operates over 25 million square feet of office, multi-tenant industrial, multi-family and retail properties in six western states.
He grew up an only child in Portland and when he was in 1st grade, his mother enrolled in art school in Portland. Three years later, she opened an art gallery.
A 1981 Superman by Andy Warhol, part of his “Myths” series.
“I was lucky, I grew up with art from the time I was in grade school,” Schnitzer said Thursday. “She really loved having a gallery for 25 years. Growing up, I was surrounded by art and went to the openings, would play at the artists’ houses with their kids, so art has been a big part of my life since grade school.”
He purchased his first piece at age 14, a painting from local artist Louis Bunce, for $75 (paid from his allowance over 12 months).
“I always preach the importance of supporting local artists,” Schnitzer said. Today, his vast collection is comprised of 19,000 paintings, sculptures and prints, all post-World War II contemporary art.
“It’s the time frame you and I live in,” he said. “The artists speak to themes that we’ve had to face; are facing in our lives.”
Schnitzer said he’s been honored to spend time with Ellsworth Kelly, Frank Stella and Jeff Koons.
“An explosion of colors”
The Figge is the fourth museum nationwide to show the exhibit, which originated at the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Va., in September 2019. The Figge curators chose about a dozen more works from his collection that weren’t in prior iterations of the exhibit, totaling 128 works from 18 artists, stretching from the 1950s to the past decade.
A perfect place to take a selfie outside the Figge Art Museum, 225 W. 2nd St., Davenport.
“Probably most every person that comes to see this exhibition has seen an image of Warhol or Lichtenstein,” Schnitzer said. “But what they are going to see when they walk into the exhibition at the Figge is an explosion of colors, an avalanche of ideas by some of the greatest contemporary artists of our time. One of my favorite things to do is to walk around a museum on the day the show opens and see the wide eyes and smiles on the faces of patrons as they immerse themselves in the works of these artistic geniuses.”
“It’s a joyful show, and a feast for the eyes,” he added. “Truly, providing additional funding so museums can make this exhibition accessible to all is one of the great joys of my life.”
“When we’re young, we are most impressionable. We’re being shaped by our parents, our teachers, our friends, other people in the community — which is no different from the sculptor taking a hunk of clay and shaping it,” Schnitzer said. “When guests step into the Figge and see this exhibition, I hope it leaves an impression on every person in the Quad-Cities region.”
A painting by Roger Shimomura reflects the artist as Superman.
He revels in the overpowering visual eye and prescience of Andy Warhol (1928-1987). Among his favorites at the Figge is Warhol’s 1985 “Reigning Queens,” a forward-looking, brightly colorful series of three prints each of England’s Queen Elizabeth II and Swaziland’s Ntombi Twala, an African queen.
“He was making a statement, decades before Black Lives Matter,” Schnitzer said. “His biggest theme was the democratization of art, right? That’s why he liked silk-screening. Everything he did, like endangered species, decades before the movement.
“You look at the Kennedy series, the Liz series, the Marilyn series, the Mao series, the shadow piece of his,” he said, admiring Warhol’s 1981 double-personality self-portrait, “The Shadow,” which reflected his gay personality, living in the shadows of society.
“Maybe it’s about all of us – we have a public persona and we have a private persona,” Schnitzer said. “So who are we? Are we the face we present to people, or our own thoughts?”
Warhol was working to shake up normal perceptions, he said, noting he also was a master colorist.
“He used these colors to attract you – like a hummingbird to a flower,” Schnitzer said. “He uses beautiful colors, to seduce you and suck you into seeing them. Then he’d hit you with these powerful themes.”
“Warhol’s themes are easier for the public to look at and be swept away, and be moved by them,” he said.
A rug version of Robert Indiana’s iconic “LOVE” image, which started in 1965 as a Christmas card, and has been rendered in sculptures, paintings, prints, rings, stamps and tapestries.
The exhibit includes Koons’ “Gazing Ball” works, part of a series of famous artworks with a round blue space for people to see their own reflections.
“You see yourself in it, so here he has Mona Lisa – the most famous painting in the world – and he has a gazing ball in it, so we become part of the painting,” Schnitzer said. “We’re looking at us
Schnitzer looking at the Richard Prince “Untitled Girlfriend (Jerry’s Girl).”
in the Mona Lisa, very clever. It’s autobiographical; there’s a very interesting thing about the viewer and the object. You’re part of the art – brilliant.”
He’s also delighted that the Figge added about a dozen works from his collection that weren’t part of previous “Pop Power” exhibits, including a huge one from Roger Shimomura, a Japanese-American, depicting himself as Superman.
It’s placed in between other Superman art by Warhol and Mel Ramos.
“They did a brilliant job, the way they did it,” Schnitzer said of the Figge placement. “Isn’t it clever? It’s fabulous.”
He also loves a large fourth-floor 2013 portrait by Richard Prince that is a composite photo made from the 57 girlfriends of comedian Jerry Seinfeld, which he apparently had during his TV series. The exhibit also includes some 3-D or sculptural art, including a plastic baked potato, by Claes Oldenburg, from 1966.
Promoting color differently
Schnitzer said he has been in the forefront of showing artists of color for decades, and has funded symposiums and workshops on African-American themes.
Schnitzer with the 2016 Jeff Koons “Gazing Ball Mona Lisa.”
With the Black Lives Matter movement of the past few years, Schnitzer is funding three art museums at universities – Washington State University, Portland State and the University of Oregon — $50,000 each, for $2,500 grants to artists. The universities choose the work to have exhibits and events starting this summer, he said.
“No one has had as many exhibitions of artists of color as we have,” Schnitzer said. “Artists have always been chroniclers of our time. In 20 and 30 years, when historians look back, I think they will say in general in this country and around the world, a number of ethnic groups came into their own, as they should have decades before.”
“In terms of them being involved in the mainstream of this country, those changes take place, they evolve,” he said. “The artists are reflecting that transition; some of the most important work being done today is done by artists of color – especially female artists of color.”
Schnitzer standing next to the Warhol “Reigning Queens.”
The Figge exhibit features three female artists, including Mickalene Thomas (a 50-year-old Black artist) and Wendy Red Star (a 40-year-old Native American multi-media artist).
“She has these stylized images of African-American women,” Schnitzer said of Thomas. “She’s created her own style and brand.”
Red Star features photos of herself with Native American themes, set against spectacular paintings she’s done.
One in a series of four multimedia works by Wendy Red Star (a Native American artist) at the Figge Art Museum, Davenport.
With grants from the Schnitzer Family Foundation, the Figge will offer free Thursdays at the Figge, including a special conversation with Chief Curator José Carlos Diaz of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Penn., on Thursday, Sept. 16.
In addition, the Figge’s Learn to Look Gallery and Family Activity Center will both offer free opportunities for kids of all ages to create their own artworks inspired by the exhibition.
Pop Power from Warhol to Koons is made possible thanks to a collaboration with Jordan D. Schnitzer and the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation. The exhibition is organized by the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation and the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Va., and has been curated by the late Patrick Shaw Cable, PhD, deputy director of exhibitions and education at the Taubman.
Tickets are on sale for $10 for adults, $6 for seniors, and $4 for children ages 4-12. Reservations can be made at www.figgeartmuseum.org. The exhibition runs all summer, through Sept. 19, 2021.
To see an album of some images from the exhibit, click HERE.
