Frye Art Museum

Pacific Northwest Artists

The Frye Art Museum’s substantial collection of works by artists of the Pacific Northwest reflects the Museum’s transformation from a personal selection of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century—predominantly European—oil paintings to a museum dedicated to creative practice in its myriad forms. Since opening in 1952 to the present day, the Museum has remained steadfast in exhibiting and collecting artworks by contemporary artists, especially those living and practicing in the city of Seattle and surrounding region. Walser Sly Greathouse, executor of the Frye estate and founding director of the Museum, ensured Charles and Emma Frye's vision for a free, public art museum for the people of Seattle was brought to life. Beginning in 1952, Greathouse was the first of six directors who expanded the Museum’s collection, acquiring new works to enliven and contextualize the paintings bequeathed by the Fryes. Subsequent leaders sustained the Museum’s legacy within the evolving identity of the Pacific Northwest through the ongoing collection and exhibition of works by artists of the region—from Washington and Oregon up to Alaska. The Museum’s extensive holdings of Alaskan art were initially assembled by the Museum’s second director, Ida Kay Greathouse. Between 1969 and 1993, she acquired over 125 paintings and works on paper. Subsequent Frye directors Richard V. West, Midge Bowman, and Jo-Anne Birnie Danzker added 175 more works by artists associated with the northernmost state. Highlights of the Pacific Northwest holdings range from twentieth-century Alaskan landscapes by artists such as Sydney Laurence and Eustace Paul Ziegler, to evocative works by contemporary artists and artist collectives across a broad range of mediums, including Juventino Aranda, the Black Constellation, Alison Bremner, Degenerate Art Ensemble, Ellen Lesperance, Jeffry Mitchell, Buster Simpson, and Ko Kirk Yamahira, among others.

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Title	Artist	Medium	Date
Evening on the Tundra, Alaska	Lambert, Theodore Roosevelt	Oil on illustration board	1937
Mt. Drum	Lambert, Theodore Roosevelt	Oil on illustration board	1935
Solitude	Lambert, Theodore Roosevelt	Oil on Masonite	1939
Sunrise at Akiak	Lambert, Theodore Roosevelt	Oil on panel	1937
The Indian Buck	Lambert, Theodore Roosevelt	Oil on Masonite	1940
Tundra Cache	Lambert, Theodore Roosevelt	Oil on Masonite	1942
Winter, Ft. Yukon	Lambert, Theodore Roosevelt	Oil on illustration board	1936
Cache by the River	Laurence, Sydney	Oil on canvas on Masonite	n.d.
Camp with Mt. McKinley in the Background	Laurence, Sydney	Oil on burlap	n.d.
Cordially Yours	Laurence, Sydney	Pencil and ink on paper	1920
Country Scene with House	Laurence, Sydney	Oil on canvas	1933
Deserted Beach	Laurence, Sydney	Oil on canvas	1931
Freighter at Sunrise	Laurence, Sydney	Oil on canvas	n.d.
Lake Union	Laurence, Sydney	Oil on canvas	n.d.
View of Mt. Shuksan	Laurence, Sydney	Oil on canvas	n.d.
Mt. McKinley from the Headwaters of the Talkeetna River, Alaska	Laurence, Sydney	Oil on canvas	1918
Mt. McKinley from the Tokositna River	Laurence, Sydney	Oil on canvas	n.d.
Mt. McKinley with Cache	Laurence, Sydney	Oil on canvas on board	1920
Mt. McKinley with Trees	Laurence, Sydney	Oil on canvas	n.d.
Northern Lights	Laurence, Sydney	Oil on canvas	n.d.
Off to the Potlatch	Laurence, Sydney	Oil on canvas	n.d.
On My Venetian Travels	Laurence, Sydney	Watercolor on paper	n.d.
Sailing Off Shore	Laurence, Sydney	Oil on canvas on cardboard	1920s
Snoqualmie Falls	Laurence, Sydney	Oil on canvas, relined	n.d.
Valdez, Alaska	Laurence, Sydney	Watercolor on paper	1914