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.
Jeffry Mitchell
Graphite, ink, carbon transfer, and watercolor on paper
2018
Jessica Jackson Hutchins
Glazed ceramic
2008
Rose Nestler
Two-channel digital video (color, silent): 20 min.
2017-18
Margie Livingston
Acrylic with steel wall mount/shelf
2011
Eden Seifu
Acrylic on canvas
2022
Dawn Cerny
Wood, plaster tape, textiles, found ephemera from studio of Nancy Shaver, Apoxie Sculpt, paint
2021
Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe
Oil on canvas
2020
Mary Ann Peters
White ink
2018
Amoako Boafo
Oil on canvas
2021
Anthony White
PLA (plastic) on panel
2019
Duane Linklater
Powder-coated trap, mirror, gypsum board, plywood, steel wall studs
2016
ESTAR(SER), with special acknowledgment to the Committee on Vitreous Phenomena (Justin Ginsberg and Anna Riley)
Glass, with custom made iron and wood stand
n.d.