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.
Ellen Lesperance
Gouache and graphite on tea-stained paper
2015
Duane Linklater
Powder-coated trap, mirror, gypsum board, plywood, steel wall studs
2016
Margie Livingston
Acrylic with steel wall shelf
2011
Kat Lyons
Oil on canvas
2021
Liz Magor
Polymerized gypsum, cans of beer
2001
Gisela McDaniel
Oil on panel, found objects, sound
2021
Jeffry Mitchell
Graphite, ink, carbon transfer, and watercolor on paper
2018
Jeffry Mitchell
Earthenware with luster glaze
2005
Jeffry Mitchell
Glazed earthenware
2008
Rose Nestler
Leather, thread, batting, grommets, hooks
2018
Rose Nestler
Two-channel digital video (color, silent): 20 min.
2017-18
Hanako O’Leary
Clay
2020