The Fountain Gallery was a major hub of Portland’s downtown arts scene for much of the mid-20th century. In 1961, Arlene Schnitzer (yes, the same Arlene Schnitzer that the theater is named after) opened the venue, which hosted art shows, lectures, poetry readings, and performances. It wasn’t Portland’s first art gallery, but Arlene and her husband Harold Schnitzer were instrumental in putting substantial funding and institutional support behind artists in Portland. “She helped the banks, the law firms, and the businesses to realize that they needed to support local artists,” says her son Jordan Schnitzer. “That was true of music, dance, and theater, too, but her role was visual arts.”
According to Jordan Schnitzer, Portland’s art community was quite different in his parents’ era. “The art community relative to the greater metropolitan area was nothing like it is today,” he says. “It was much more insular and smaller. Not elitist in any way. These people were down-to-earth. But there wasn’t a lot of art consciousness on the part of the citizens, as there is today.” Schnitzer says that his mother used her resources, social skills, and connections to get eyes on art and money into artists’ pockets.
A Fountain of Creativity: Oregon’s 20th Century Artists and the Legacy of Arlene Schnitzer provides a window into the Portland art scene during the beginning and middle of the 20th century. The exhibit features work from Pacific Northwest artists like Carl Morris, William Givler, Hilda Morris, and others, all of whom were supported by Schnitzer during their careers.
