Ferrin Contemporary manages the collections of Victoria Schonfeld and Margaret Pennington.
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Victoria Schonfeld (1950-2019) was a prominent New York lawyer, collector, and philanthropist whose discerning eye was matched only by the fierceness of devotion to her family and friends. From the time she began collecting ceramics in the 1990s, Schonfeld developed lasting friendships with the artists who caught her eye. Schonfeld was particularly devoted to championing female artists, including Betty Woodman, Alison Britton, and Carol McNicoll, as well as younger artists like Lauren Mabry and Rain Harris. Her taste encompassed everything from classical beauty to pointedly political works, all linked by her boundless curiosity.
Long before her untimely death, Schonfeld began donating works by artists she admired to museums across the United States, including the Everson Museum of Art. It is with the deepest gratitude that the Everson accepts key works from the Schonfeld collection that will endure as a tribute to her generosity and lasting network of friendships. Mutual Affection marks the debut of the Victoria Schonfeld Collection at the Everson, fleshed out by additional works loaned by her family. Each object in this exhibition stands on its own merit, but also represents a node in Schonfeld’s vast network of reciprocal relationships.
Margaret Pennington’s collection of contemporary American decorative art began in 1981 with the purchase of a Rick Dillingham cylindrical globe from the New York gallery, Hadler Rodriguez. From this elegant vessel, a standard was developed by Pennington for the selection of over 100 artworks which form a broad, historically important collection of sculpture and decorative arts spanning the last 50 years of the American 20th century.
A passion to create an in-depth survey of seminal artists led Pennington to search for examples of early, middle and late works by the masters of the movement including, Robert Arneson, Peter Voulkos, Viola Frey, Rick Dillingham, Rudy Autio, Jack Earl, Michael Lucero, Ron Nagle, Mark Lindquist, Dale Chihuly, Harvey Littleton. Drawings and paintings, when available, were added to compliment the sculpture. Pennington’s eye and curatorial perspective built an encyclopedic, historically relevant collection.
Pennington carefully detailed her acquisitions with information which had guided her choices including the exhibition, publishing history and relationships between the dealers, artists and fellow collectors. Provenance gathered from her archival files reveal the various owners, often in the hand and on the stationary, invoices and receipts of the original gallerist. Lovely notes from the artists, museum curators and archival material are carefully annotated with reference to
publications of actual or similar works of the period. The documentation and presentation of the collection as a whole provides context and added value to the historical and artistic significance of the individual pieces.
The Margaret Pennington Collection is based in southwest Florida. Beautifully installed in a private home designed for the display of these objects, the collection is offered for sale through Ferrin Contemporary by Leslie Ferrin.
