Mutual Affection: The Victoria Schonfeld Collection Opening July 24 at the Everson

SYRACUSE, NY (July 21, 2021): The Everson’s latest exhibition Mutual Affection: The Victoria Schonfeld Collection opens this Saturday, July 24. It will display works donated by Victoria Schonfeld for the first time since their reception into the Museum’s renowned ceramics collection.

Ms. Schonfeld, who passed away in 2019, was a prominent New York lawyer, collector, and philanthropist. A collector since the 1990’s, Schonfeld developed many lasting friendships with the artists who caught her eye. She was particularly devoted to championing female artists, including Betty Woodman, Alison Britton, Carol McNicoll, as well as younger artists such as Lauren Mabry and Rain Harris. Schonfeld’s taste ranged from minimal to opulent, connected by a thread of powerful vision on the part of the artists.

Before her death, Schonfeld began donating works she had amassed to museums across the United States, including the Everson Museum of Art.

Garth Johnson, the Everson’s Paul Phillips & Sharon Sullivan Curator of Ceramics, is leading the charge on Mututal Affection and provided the following statement:

“Victoria Schonfeld possessed an incredibly rare set of attributes—she had a sharp, critical eye, yet she wasn’t afraid of beauty. She didn’t follow the herd and was often the first collector to step forward to acquire the work of young artists. She was also unfailingly generous to her artist friends and to arts nonprofits and museums like the Everson. The Victoria Schonfeld Collection at the Everson will live on as a testament to all of these qualities.”

About the Everson Museum of Art
The Everson is a museum of firsts. It was the first museum to dedicate itself to the collection of American art, to create a permanent collection of ceramics, to collect video art, to create a docent program and to hire the now internationally-known architect I.M. Pei to design its building, a sculptural work of art in its own right. Located in Syracuse, NY, the Everson is home to over 10,000 works of art: American paintings, sculpture, drawings, video, graphics and one of the largest holdings of international ceramics in the nation. Visit everson.org to learn more.

Mutual Affection: The Victoria Schonfeld Collection will be on view at the Everson through January 2022 and will be located on the Everson’s lower level in the Paul Phillips & Sharon Sullivan Ceramics Center. Visit everson.org to learn more.