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.
Katherine Bradford
Acrylic on canvas
2022
Alison Bremner
Latex paint on deer hide with horsehair
2017
Romero Britto
Acrylic paint and oil pen on canvas
2017
Matt Browning
Tree sap and carved wood
2010
Matt Browning
Tree sap on handmade wood panel
2012
Cris Bruch
Blown glass
2016
Cris Bruch
Aluminum composite
2015
Ishmael Butler
Audio, 24:51 min.
2015
Mark Calderon
Book spine repair tape
2012
George Chacona
Letterpress and print
1994
Mikhail Cheremnykh and Viktor Deni
Poster reproduction
1920, printed 1967
C.T. Chew
Letterpress and print
1994