Everson Museum of Art

The Everson Museum of Art seeks to inspire, educate and enrich, integrating art into people's lives through direct encounters with its collections and exhibitions. It is internationally recognized for its extensive and significant collection of ceramics, pioneering art video collection and distinctive structural design by the noted architect I.M. Pei. When the Everson Museum of Art opened its present quarters in 1968, it was dubbed "a work of art for works of art." As the first museum design by internationally-acclaimed architect I. M. Pei, the Everson's design has been credited with launching Pei's world-famous career and putting the museum at the forefront of contemporary architecture. Today, the museum is more than just a "work of art." It has assumed a vital role in the reinvigoration of downtown Syracuse through artistic programs designed to maximize community involvement. The Everson Museum of Art's roots extend to the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts, which was founded in 1897 by George Fisk Comfort, a well known art educator who also helped establish the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts' inaugural exhibition was held in 1900. Within twenty years of its founding, the Syracuse museum made two character-setting decisions under the leadership of Fernando Carter, the second director of the museum. In 1911, it declared that it would seek to collect only American art (the first museum anywhere to do so), and in 1916, it purchased a small group of porcelains from Syracuse potter Adelaide Alsop Robineau, who is today considered one of America's finest ceramists and whose work is known throughout the world.