The naming of the Arlene & Harold Schnitzer Director celebrates decades of generosity from the Schnitzer family
The Portland Art Museum announced a major endowment from the late Arlene Schnitzer and the Schnitzer family on Friday evening that includes the naming of its Director position, currently held by Brian Ferriso, as the Arlene & Harold Schnitzer Director.
The Schnitzer family, led by Arlene Schnitzer, contributed $13.5 million to the Museum’s Connection Campaign—the largest ever from an individual donor in the Museum’s 132-year history.
“I am pleased to be the first Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Director at the Portland Art Museum,” said Portland Art Museum Director Brian Ferriso. “The Schnitzer family has made extraordinary contributions as leaders and donors to this institution as well as arts organizations throughout Oregon and across the country.”
Long known for their leadership in sustaining and growing Portland’s cultural sphere, the Schnitzers have earned recognition as the city’s “First Family of the Arts.” The late Arlene Schnitzer (1929 – 2020) began her relationship with the Portland Art Museum as a young woman when she enrolled as a student at the Museum Art School. She and her husband, Harold Schnitzer (1923–2011), along with their son, Jordan, have been close partners of the Museum for almost half a century.
“I know that my mother and father are both looking down, so proud of the effort that Brian, the talented staff at the Portland Art Museum, the Board of Trustees, and everyone in the community have done to help position the Portland Art Museum as one of the most important regional art museums in the country,” said Jordan Schnitzer.
The Schnitzers’ passion for art and Portland led to leadership roles at the Museum. The Schnitzers have provided financial support for important acquisitions, exhibitions, and capital campaigns; donated their Chinese Han Dynasty collection and other works to the Museum’s collection; and made significant investments in furthering the scholarship of the curatorial team through endowments of Northwest and Asian art, whose curatorial positions are named in their honor. Arlene Schnitzer also established an endowment for early Chinese art and an endowment for special exhibitions. The Schnitzers’ vision and generosity led to the creation of the Museum’s Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Northwest Art, celebrating the creative vitality of the region. The spacious Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Sculpture Court in the Museum’s main building will continue to be a key area of art connection in the Museum’s transformed campus, opening November 20, which the Schnitzers played a major role in bringing to reality with historic leadership gifts to the Connection Campaign.
In recognition of their incredible commitment and contributions, in 2007, Harold and Arlene Schnitzer were named the first-ever Life Trustees of the Museum. In 2014, the Museum showcased Arlene and Harold’s distinguished collection with the exhibition and publication In Passionate Pursuit: The Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Collection and Legacy. That exhibition displayed artwork by many of the Northwest artists whose careers Mrs. Schnitzer nurtured through her Fountain Gallery, including Robert Colescott, the focus of the 2020 special exhibition Art and Race Matters: The Career of Robert Colescott.
Arlene and Harold Schnitzer’s son, ARTNews Top 200 Art Collector Jordan Schnitzer, continues his family’s legendary support of the Museum and other arts and culture organizations across the world. He shares works from his world-renowned contemporary art collection with Portland Art Museum visitors through exhibitions like Global Icons, Local Spotlight: Contemporary Art from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer, which debuted Saturday, September 6, and David Hockney: Works from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation opening in February 2026.
