Fay Boyer Preble and Virginia Cooke Murphy Galleries
The Preble/Murphy Wing includes two galleries displaying art from Japan. Gertrude Bass Warner, the founding director of the museum, began her love affair with Asian art while living in China, and her interests quickly broadened to include the arts of many other countries in Asia, including Japan, where she first visited in 1906. The works on view reflect her interests in the artistic qualities of everyday objects and in the representation of everyday life as a subject for art.
Betty and John Soreng Gallery
The Soreng Gallery, also known as “The Throne Room,” is an impressive space devoted to works from late imperial China. In fact, many of these objects were once part of the Palace collections. Warner had lived in China during the last years of the Qing dynasty, and it was there that she acquired many of the objects in her inaugural gift.
The gallery is divided into thematic groups, showing some of the ways that imperial authority was manifested. Certain materials occupied a special place at the Emperor’s Court and were used repeatedly. Jade, silk, and glass materials had specific meanings and associations. Although many of these pieces, such as the robes and architectural tiles, were created as useful objects, they are now recognized as valuable works of art.
Wan Koo and Young Ja Huh Wing and Jin Joo Gallery
The Huh Wing and the Jin Joo Gallery houses selections from the museum’s Korean art collection. The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is one of only a few university museums in the United States with a gallery dedicated to Korean art.
The works on view focus on the ink-painting and decorative painting traditions associated with the court, temple shrines, and domestic interiors. A rich legacy of art from the Joseon Dynasty to the present day testifies to the vibrant role that painting played in Joseon culture.
Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Gallery of American and Regional Art
The Schnitzer Gallery of American and Regional Art exhibits of American art from the Northwest as well as nationally recognized 20th and 21st century artists remarkable in its diversity of subject matter and media. The influences of local, regional, national and international ideas and cultures, the growing importance of technology, and the professional training of artists are particularly relevant to the work on view.
Morris Graves Gallery
The Museum is home to the largest collection of paintings by renowned Pacific Northwest artist Morris Graves (1910-2001). The collection encompasses over 100 paintings and approximately 400 sketches that illustrate his experimental techniques and methods. Graves’s work is known for its introspective style and mystical view of nature influenced by his travels in Asia and encounters with Asian art and religion.
A. Dean and Lucile I. McKenize Gallery
Gertrude Bass Warner’s impressive collection of Russian and Orthodox icons is joined by special loans and related works.
Special Exhibitions
The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art houses a number of galleries that feature changing exhibitions. These galleries present works from the collection, pieces on loan from museums or private collectors, and major exhibitions organized by the JSMA staff or other institutions. These galleries include the Coeta and Donald Barker Gallery, John and Ethel MacKinnon Gallery, Focus Gallery, and Gordon Gilkey Research Center.