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.
Joseph Park
Oil on panel
2007
Mary Ann Peters
White ink
2018
Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe
Oil on canvas
2020
Bony Ramirez
Acrylic, soft oil pastel, color pencil, wallpaper, metal chain, dried coconuts
2021
Georgina Reskala
Gelatin silver print
2017
Eden Seifu
Acrylic on canvas
2022
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
Ann Leda Shapiro
Watercolor and watercolor pencil on archival paper
2022
Amie Siegel
Cibachrome print
2013
Cauleen Smith
Archival pigment print
2015
Clarissa Tossin
Silicone, black pigment, tree bark
2022