The Human Condition: The Stephen and Pamela Hootkin Collection Sept. 2014 | Page 8

with J.P. Morgan Securities. In New York he met his future

sculptural works, which, unfortunately, could not always

wife Pamela who had a long career in corporate finance

be accommodated in either apartment. They were not

and treasury for large, multi-national corporations in the

deterred. They designed and built a new, much more

pharmaceutical, cosmetics, retail and apparel industries.

spacious home in downtown Manhattan, which they

Beside a common interest in finance, they soon discovered

moved into in late 1996. In the meantime, they made

that they both loved the visual arts and early in the

arrangements for larger works such as Viola Frey’s Man

relationship began to collect contemporary ceramics.

and his World, which they acquired earlier that year in

As with many collectors of ceramic art, beautiful vessel
forms initially attracted the Hootkins when they began to
collect in the early 1980s. They have never lost their taste
for the beauty of the ceramic medium. However, toward
the end of the 1980s they noticeably moved toward an
edgier kind of work. Even though they continued to collect
vessel forms such as Anne Kraus’ vases or Richard Notkin’s

anticipation of the new home, to remain in storage in
the gallery where it had been purchased. A number of
large works by Michael Lucero, one of their favorite artists,
were acquired knowing that they would be traveling to
several museums across the United States for extended
periods of time. The loft was ready by the time the
sculptures returned to New York and their new owners.

teapots, these now had narrative content with strong

One must add that even in terms of scale, in recent

psychological and existential overtones. In the mid-1990s,

years, the Hootkins began to push the envelope further

the Hootkins went still further in their thinking about

acquiring works that even their new home could not

collecting and wholly embraced the idea of independent

physically accommodate. Most recently works such as

ceramic sculpture. Hence totally non-functional pieces

Arnie Zimmerman’s The Fools' Congress, Part 2 and Beth

by artists such as Kukuli Velarde and Justin Novak made

Cavener’s L’Amante and Humiliation by Design were

their way into the collection. Here too, the impact of

first placed into storage then transferred to the Chazen

their acquisitions was as dependent on their uneasy

Museum of Art, first as loans and then as gifts to the

and edgy content as on their beautiful manufacture.

collection. We share the Hootkins’ passion for these

Already in the early 1990s, the rapid growth of the

works and are truly grateful for their beneficence.

collection necessitated the renting of an additional

Besides their passion for the works of art, the Hootkins

apartment. Ostensibly a residence for their daughter

have always been fascinated by creative personalities.

upon her graduation from college, it served in the

Over the years they have befriended many of the artists

interim as a storage space for their quickly growing

whose work they acquired. In 1992, as a surprise for

collection. About this same time, however, the Hootkins

Stephen’s fiftieth birthday, Pam sent each of the artists

also began to take an active interest in large-scale

whose work was in their collection a blank 8 x 11 inch

Stephen and Pamela Hootkin.

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