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.
Amie Siegel
Cibachrome print
2013
Sadie Wechsler
Archival inkjet print in madrone artist's frame
2021
Gisela McDaniel
Oil on panel, found objects, sound
2021
Ann Leda Shapiro
Watercolor and watercolor pencil on archival paper
2022
Jeffry Mitchell
Glazed earthenware
2008
Katherine Bradford
Acrylic on canvas
2022
Fritz Hickmann
Oil on canvas mounted to board
1855
Joseph Park
Oil on panel
2007
Clarissa Tossin
Silicone, black pigment, tree bark
2022
Jennie C. Jones
Earbuds and acrylic
2008
Liz Magor
Polymerized gypsum, cans of beer
2001
Marita Dingus
Ceramic and mixed media
2023