The Frye Art Museum continues to strategically build its collection through purchases and gifts, both deepening existing areas of strength and diversifying holdings to reflect the Museum’s expansive curatorial program and Seattle’s globalized present.
Acquisitions of the last five years demonstrate the Museum’s commitment to growing and contextualizing its distinctive historical collections of late nineteenth- and twentieth-century European and American art while broadening its holdings of contemporary works to embrace previously underrepresented identities, perspectives, and forms of expression. To some extent, acquisitions mirror the Museum’s exhibition history, creating a material record of the institution’s engagement with local, national, and international artists and commemorating the special audience connection formed through temporary presentations. Contemporary artworks chosen for the collection often respond to or complicate the narratives around mediums and genres traditionally associated with the Frye, like painting, landscape, and portraiture.
Tschabalala Self
Colored pencil, acrylic paint, gouache, charcoal, graphite on archival inkjet print
2021
Tschabalala Self
Colored pencil, acrylic paint, gouache, charcoal, graphite on archival inkjet print
2021
Srijon Chowdhury
Oil on linen
2022
Amoako Boafo
Oil on canvas
2021
Amoako Boafo
Oil on canvas
2021
Harry Gould Harvey IV
Black walnut from the Delano Sawmill, white oak from Prudence Island, MDF, colored pencil, charcoal, gouache, and pigments of goldenrod, Aronia Viking chokecherry, and rose petals
2022
Molly Zuckerman-Hartung
Oil, collage, plastic garbage bag, camouflage pants
2008-2011
Khari Johnson-Ricks
Watercolor on paper with acetate
2021
Katherine Bradford
Acrylic on canvas
2022
Ann Leda Shapiro
Watercolor and watercolor pencil on archival paper
2022
Molly Jae Vaughan
Oil pencil on paper
2022
Gisela McDaniel
Oil on panel, found objects, sound
2021