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Contemporary Art

Loosely defined as the art of today or the art of our lifetime, the term “contemporary art” is usually used more specifically to describe artworks created since the 1980s or 1990s. For collection purposes, the Frye Art Museum currently delineates the scope as 1990 to the present. In the more general sense, the Frye has collected and exhibited contemporary—or contemporaneous—art since its opening in 1952. This commitment to the art and culture of the present was catalyzed by Museum founders Charles and Emma Frye, who amassed a collection of paintings made within their own lifetimes and often purchased works directly from living artists. Over the last seven decades, directors of the Museum have each brought their own interests and interpretations to bear on the Frye’s engagement with contemporary art and thereby shaped a distinctive collection. Prior to the tenure of Elsa “Midge” Bowman (Director, 2004–09), and often counter to dominant trends in art of the time, the Frye’s leadership focused exclusively on exhibiting and collecting representational art, citing Charles and Emma Frye’s preferences for figurative and landscape painting. Under Bowman’s direction, the exhibitions program at the Frye expanded into areas like video art and performance that questioned and upended the definition of representational art. In 2008, the Museum’s mission was revised to embrace art in its myriad forms. The Frye’s contemporary art collection has grown significantly since that time, reflecting the diversity of the institution’s engagement with local, national, and international artists working today.

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Title Artist Medium Date
Curse You, Peter Pan...!   Horsey, David   Graphite, pen, and ink on illustration board  1998 
Beltway Apocalypse   Horsey, David   Graphite, pen, and ink on illustration board  1998 
Gallery with Triptych   Washburn, Stan   Oil on canvas  1998 
Flying Female #4   Bergt, Michael   Colored pencil and gouache on paper  1998 
Fire   Zwerling, Lisa   Oil on linen  1998 
Giglio Sunday   Safranek, Doug   Egg tempera on panel  1998 
Between Life and Life   Barnet, Will   Lithograph  1998 
Engine 55, East Broome Street   Brosen, Frederick   Watercolor on paper  1998 
The Wait   Mothner, Carol   Egg tempera on panel  1998 


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