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 ten 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.
Kelly Akashi
Chromogenic crystallograph in aluminum artist's frame
2021
Aleksander Apsit
Poster reproduction
1919, printed 1967
Aleksander Apsit
Poster reproduction
1919, printed 1967
Juventino Aranda
Oil on wool Pendleton blanket
2018
Gayle Bard
Letterpress and lithograph
1994
Leo Berk
Glass, black pond dye
2015
Leo Berk
Aluminum, fishing line, weights
2015
Jeffrey Bishop
Letterpress and lithograph
1993
Mare Blocker
Letterpress and linocut
1994
Amoako Boafo
Oil on canvas
2021
Amoako Boafo
Oil on canvas
2021