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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
'Tis not so Bad A World   Ziegler, Eustace Paul   Oil on glass  1909 
A Star is Born   Ziegler, Eustace Paul   Oil on canvas  ca. 1958 
Accibuk the Seal Hunter   Machetanz, Fred   Lithograph  1946 
After Boucher: Untitled   Vaughan, Molly Jae   Oil pencil on paper  2022 
Akon, Eskimo Boy   Machetanz, Fred   Charcoal and pastel on paper  1947 
Alaska Cabin & Cache   Heurlin, Magnus Colcord   Oil on linen  n.d. 
Alaska Native   Ziegler, Eustace Paul   Drypoint  n.d. 
Alaska Sentinels   Ziegler, Eustace Paul   Oil on burlap  1923 
Alaskan Family   Ziegler, Eustace Paul   Oil on canvas  ca. 1935 
Alaskan Girl   Ziegler, Eustace Paul   Drypoint  n.d. 
Alex Duff Combs, Potter - Halibut Cove, Alaska   Kimura, Sam Isamu   Gelatin silver print  ca. 1990 
Along Arctic Ice   Machetanz, Fred   Oil on canvas  1977 
Alpenglow Evening   Van Zyle, Jon   Lithograph  n.d. 
Alyeska Mother   Gill, Lunda Hoyle   Oil on linen  n.d. 
Amber Lit   Van Zyle, Jon   Lithograph  1990 
Amur Tiger   Wallen, R. T.   Lithograph  1991 
An Agnostic Manifesto   Hazleton, Lesley   Text installation  2015 
An Eskimo Smile   Steinke, Bettina   Oil on canvas  1979 
And Now One for You   Stark, Michael A.   Pen and ink on card  1988 
Arc du Louvre   Gustin, Paul Morgan   Etching  1925 
Arctic Circle   Wallen, R. T.   Screenprint  1978 
Arctic Ground Squirrel   Wallen, R. T.   Lithograph  1973 
Arctic Hunter   Machetanz, Fred   Lithograph  1961 
Arctic Scene   Heurlin, Magnus Colcord   Oil on linen  ca. 1950 
Arctic Sentinel   Machetanz, Fred   Lithograph  1965 


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