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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
Peter Kalifornsky, Kenai, Alaska   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  1989 
Peter Kalifornsky, Portrait   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  1992 
Portage Glacier   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  ca. 1983 
Quiet Mud, Cooke Inlet Alaska   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  1983 
Roy Alex, Eklutna, Alaska   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  1989 
Roy Alex, Portrait   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  1992 
Skunk Cabbage, Hatcher Pass, Alaska   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  1986 
The Owl Called My Name   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  ca. 1978 
The Perkins   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  n.d. 
Tombstone, Skagway, Alaska   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  1984 
Tree Bark, Carmel, California   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  1984 
Untitled [Birch trees in sky]   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  1978 
Untitled [Birch trees in sky]   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  1978 
Untitled [Butchering whale, Barrow, Alaska]   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  ca. 1952 
Untitled [Church and whale bones, Barrow, Alaska]   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  ca. 1952 
Untitled [Fashion model leg with dancer]   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  ca. 1960 
Untitled [Inupiaq boy at window, Barrow, Alaska]   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  ca. 1952 
Untitled [Little Susitna River, Hatcher Pass, Alaska]   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  1983 
Untitled [Portrait of man with sculpture, New York City]   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  ca. 1956 
Untitled [Portrait of woman at newspaper stand, New York, NY]   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  ca. 1956 
Untitled [Tree roots, Carmel, California]   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  1984 
Victor Antone, Kenai, Alaska   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  1989 
Warren   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  1988 
Water Lilies, Seward, Alaska   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  1986 
Winter, Matanuska Valley, Alaska   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  1984 


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