Everson Museum of Art

The Everson Museum of Art (/ˈiːvərsən/ EE-vər-sən) in Downtown Syracuse, New York is a major Central New York museum focusing on American art.

Everson Museum of Art
Museum building, designed by I. M. Pei
Established1897
Location401 Harrison Street, Syracuse, New York, USA
TypeArt museum
CollectionsCeramic art
American Painting
Sculpture
Video art
FounderGeorge Fisk Comfort
DirectorElizabeth Dunbar
Websiteeverson.org

History

The museum was founded in 1897 by art historian George Fisk Comfort (who also helped found the Metropolitan Museum of Art); at that time, it was called the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts. In 1911, it announced that it would seek to collect only American art.

Over time the museum occupied several different buildings, including the Onondaga Savings Bank and the Syracuse Public Library, but it outgrew each facility.

In 1941, Helen Everson made a gift to the city of Syracuse for the purpose of erecting an art museum. A groundbreaking took place in 1965, and in 1968 the new Everson Museum of Art opened. The new building was designed by internationally acclaimed architect I. M. Pei, and is regarded as a work of art in its own right.

The Everson Museum collaborates with Light Work and the Urban Video Project (UVP) to exhibit video art on the facade of the building, including important works by Bill Viola, Jenny Holzer, William Wegman, among others.[1] In the summer, they host a film series which is very popular for residents of Syracuse.[2]

Skateboarding

Skateboarders started skating at the Everson Museum of Art in the mid-1980s.[3] The museum is a famous location for skateboarders, considered by some an “East Coast skate mecca."[4] Filmmaker Bill Strobeck grew up outside of Syracuse and often came to Everson to skate with friends in the 1990s.[5] It was in the plaza outside of the museum that Strobeck first started filming his friends skating.[5] At that time, the museum welcomed the skaters to skate the plaza; it has since been made illegal.[5] In 2007, on National Go Skateboarding Day, the museum made an exception, allowing skating at the plaza for the day.[6] As of 2007, Central New York skateboarders have a campaign to re-open the plaza to skateboarding, using the saying "FREE eVe," meaning free the Everson Museum of Art.[6]

Collection

The Everson houses roughly 11,000 pieces of art, including paintings, sculpture, ceramics, and video.

Paintings include one of Gilbert Stuart's portraits of George Washington, Edward Hicks's The Peaceable Kingdom, and works by Eastman Johnson, Charles Burchfield, Helen Frankenthaler, Jackson Pollock and others as well as outdoors sculptures (Marja Vallila). In 1980 the Everson introduced Ching Ho Cheng's "Intimate Illuminations", the first Chinese-American contemporary painter to exhibit a one-man show nationally.

The Syracuse China Center for the Study of Ceramics is one of the largest ceramics collections in the nation, with pieces ranging from ancient sculpture and Ming dynasty porcelain up to contemporary works.

The museum established one of the first video art collections in the United States; its video collection is the largest in the world. Nam June Paik exhibited early works at the Everson, including his United States retrospective in 1974. Bill Viola's first job was as a video technician at the Everson; his works are now in the collection.

The museum also has a collection of Arts and Crafts Movement furniture, featuring a number of works of Gustav Stickley.

Deaccessioning Controversy

In September 2020, the Everson’s Board of Trustees unanimously voted to remove and sell a Jackson Pollock painting from the museum’s collection under a practice known as “deaccessioning.”[7] The deaccessioned painting, entitled “Red Composition, 1946,” features Pollock’s signature paint-splatter technique on a bright red canvas.[8] Director Elizabeth Dunbar stated that proceeds from the sale would be used to “fight[] racism inside and outside our walls” by covering portions of the museum’s operating expenses and by purchasing art created by members of underrepresented communities.[9]

The Everson’s plan to sell the Pollock at a Christie’s auction on October 6, 2020 sparked controversy in art circles.[10] The Los Angeles Times wrote that selling the Pollock was “inexcusable” and noted that the Everson’s trustees announced their plan over “the media black hole that is Labor Day weekend.”[11] The Pollock’s estimated value is $12–18 million.

Location and opening hours
Lobby of the museum, as seen from the second floor

The museum is located in the southeast corner of Downtown Syracuse, at 401 Harrison Street, near the Oncenter complex. It is directly accessible from Interstate 81 Exit 18 (Adams Street / Harrison Street).

Currently, the museum is open the following hours:

  • Wednesday, Friday & Sunday: Noon - 5:00pm
  • Thursday: Noon - 8:00pm
  • Saturday: 10:00am – 5:00pm
  • It is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays

Notable traveling exhibitions

The Everson has presented a number of exhibitions that are available for loan, either in entirety or broken down as individual artworks, including:

  • Good Design: Stories from Herman Miller
  • Fantasies and Fairy-Tales: Maxfield Parrish and the Art of the Print
  • Turner to Cézanne: Masterpieces from the Davies Collection, National Museum Wales
  • Pollock Matters
  • Marie Antoinette: Styling the 18th-Century Superstar

References
  1. "Urban Video Project - Syracuse, NY". www.urbanvideoproject.com. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  2. "Urban Video Project - UVP_WaterWay_SqueakyWheel_WaterWater-1". www.urbanvideoproject.com. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  3. "Skatedork: Scene Report Syracuse". www.skatedork.org. Retrieved 2019-11-24.
  4. "Better Skate Shop works to revive Syracuse skate scene". The Daily Orange - The Independent Student Newspaper of Syracuse, New York. 2015-04-27. Retrieved 2019-11-24.
  5. "Dying To Link". Quartersnacks.com. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  6. A, Robert (2007-06-21). "Skateboarders allowed until 4 p.m." syracuse. Retrieved 2019-11-24.
  7. https://everson.org/about/news/diversify-collection
  8. https://www.syracuse.com/news/2020/09/inexcusable-art-critic-shames-syracuse-museum-for-planned-jackson-pollock-auction.html
  9. https://everson.org/about/news/diversify-collection
  10. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/16/arts/design/brooklyn-museum-sale-christies-coronavirus.html
  11. https://www.syracuse.com/news/2020/09/inexcusable-art-critic-shames-syracuse-museum-for-planned-jackson-pollock-auction.html

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