Fleischer Museum
Reviews

SCOTTSDALE TRIBUNE NEWSPAPER
Cover Story
November 6, 1994

Museum Gives Lasting Impression
by Kevin Sheh

Observing with more than a casual interest was director Donna Fleischer, who founded the museum along with her husband Mort.

As tour guide Annabelle Markstein began discussing Hanson Puthuff's work, Fleischer said children -- more than anything -- are what the museum is all about.

"This is for the community... our cultural contribution." she said. "This is more than just a museum."

Meanwhile, Markstein, one of the museum's two tour guides, was using Puthuff's painting to introduce children to the concept of perspective. The size of the figures in the foreground, she explained, helps demonstrate the canyon's grandeur.

"OK, so what's in the foreground?" Markstein asked.

"The author," chimed in one student, nodding toward Puthoff's signature.

But it didn't take long for the students, fascinated by the museum and its contents, to catch on; within 20 minutes, the 8- and 9-year-olds casually were tossing around terms like "landscape' and "naturalism."

Not bad in an age when youngsters routinely choose Power Rangers over Picasso.

The museum's surroundings nestled against the scenic backdrop of the Sonoran Desert at Bell and Pima roads -- would whet any impressionist's appetite.

Still, a permanent collection of American Impressionism in north Scottsdale may seem an unlikely venue for sparking a generations's interest in the arts.

But the non-profit museum, like its owners, has proven adept at shattering stereotypes. After a day, patrons of the arts quickly learn the museum is more than a collection of pretty pictures.

And Mort and Donna Fleischer have proved they are not typical collectors.

Mort is an award-winning entrepreneur; Donna a champion at cutting horses. Each has proven they can succeed at nearly anything they undertake.

But the museum's location in the Perimeter Center, surrounded by offices for one of the nation's fastest-growing finance companies, might give one pause.

Success Stories

Mort is founder, president and chief executive officer of Franchise Finance Corporation of America, which provides financing to fast food and "casual eating" restaurants.

The firm grew from a four-person venture with $100,000 in equity in 1980 to the largest company in its field, with more than $750 million in market capitalization.

Because of his accomplishments, Fleischer was named Financier of the Year by the Franchise Finance Corporation of America last month in Chicago.

Donna, meanwhile, won the first go-arounds before finishing fourth overall in an amateur cutting horse competition in Abilene, Texas. She accomplished this less than three years after she first entered cutting competitions which requires riders to "cut" and keep cows away from their herd.

But art - specifically California Impressionism -- is a passion both share. Mort said the Fleischers hoped to recognize the artistic period largely ignored by scholars and develop a comprehensive art library and slide repository for future art scholars.

The California School of American Impressionism long has been overlooked, the Fleischers said. The artists of the period, which lasted from the late 1800s to early 1900s, were formally trained, internationally renowned artists who, at some point in their careers, traveled to California to paint.

All of the artists shared a renewed enthusiasm and gravitated toward landscape, Donna said. They enjoyed critical and financial success in the early 20th century, but the advent of modernism in the 1940s nudged impressionists into undeserved anonymity, she said.

Only within the past 20 years, as art historians began researching the period, has interest in impressionism been renewed. When the Fleischers opened the museum, they hoped to further generate interest in the period.

If that means drawing the community to them, they say, so be it.

More than 6,000 students have toured the facility this year, already matching last year's numbers. Students throughout the Valley are bused to and from the musuem at no charge to the schools, Donna said.

"We get a lot of inner (city) schools coming here, children that don't speak any English," she said. "We saw a seascape"

As 30 Cochise students were touring the reception area, a second class from the school was led to a room of wildlife sculptures interspersed among random outdoor scenes. Each child was asked to sketch a carving on display.

"They each have a favorite," said third-grade teacher Eleanor Weiler. "They get so excited when they come here."

She said last Tuesday's trip was the school's second visit to the museum. The field trips help spark the students' interest in the arts, as evidenced by their unbridled enthusiasm during - and after - the visits.

"They all want to talk at once," Weiler said. "They say, "we saw a seascape, we saw a landscape." They get so excited."

The Fleischers attribute much of the museum's success to the "focused" nature of their 300-piece collection.

The Fleischers' first purchase in 1983 was Franz A. Bischoff's 1920 Mt. Alice at Sunset, a depiction of Temple Crag, a peak in the Big Pine Canyon of the Sierra Nevadas.

Since then, they've aquired works from all the impressionist heavyweights, including Edgar Payne, Christian von Schneidau, Donna Schuster, William Wendt and Guy Rose. When the paintings overtook the Fleischer residence, Donna left her 15-year-old horticulture business to become the museum's full-time director.

The rapid expansion of Mort's financing firm and the budding museum demanded new quarters for both; so in 1988 the Fleischers moved the museum and the business to the new 60,000-square-foot Perimeter Center.

"We could run our business anywhere," Mort said, noting his collection could comfortably exist in traditional cultural centers like New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles.

"But the quality of life here is something we enjoy," he said.

Lofty Goals

Since they began collecting, the Fleischers have focused on transforming the 15,000-square-foot gallery, which boasts a high-tech security system and a courtyard for children's educational activities, into one of the leading impressionist museums in the country.

Mort said California Impressionism captures the beauty of the outdoors and daily life, "really filling a need" among Valley art aficionados tired of contemporary artists' penchant for the bizarre.

"Plus, we really liked it," Mort said. "If we really like something, we delve into it."

Many art collectors hinge their success on controversy; offending people's religious or cultural sensibilities can translate into big bucks.

The Fleischers have a different strategy. Donna said the beauty of the works is the attraction.

"The subject matter is not controversial, it's not religious."

The Cochise Elementary School students, sprawled on the museum floor sketching their favorite sculptures, likely are unaware of the classic contrast between impressionism and contemporary works.

But they know what they like.

"They're all so artistic," explained 8-year-old Lanae Brody, pausing from her rendering of a sculpted bunny to offer her take on the Fleischer's collection.

"I like the background.... how they were able to make it look outdoors," said Lauren Engels, 8.

One girl, though, gravitated toward a couple of pumpkins set in a corner; her choice symbolized how the museum truly has something for everyone.

Said 8-year-old Dannah Raz; "I just like to draw pumpkins."