Frye Art Museum - Contemporary Art

Loosely defined as the art of today or the art of our lifetime, the term “contemporary art” is usually used more specifically to describe artworks created since the 1980s or 1990s. For collection purposes, the Frye Art Museum currently delineates the scope as 1990 to the present.

In the more general sense, the Frye has collected and exhibited contemporary—or contemporaneous—art since its opening in 1952. This commitment to the art and culture of the present was catalyzed by Museum founders Charles and Emma Frye, who amassed a collection of paintings made within their own lifetimes and often purchased works directly from living artists. Over the last seven decades, directors of the Museum have each brought their own interests and interpretations to bear on the Frye’s engagement with contemporary art and thereby shaped a distinctive collection.

Prior to the tenure of Elsa “Midge” Bowman (Director, 2004–09), and often counter to dominant trends in art of the time, the Frye’s leadership focused exclusively on exhibiting and collecting representational art, citing Charles and Emma Frye’s preferences for figurative and landscape painting. Under Bowman’s direction, the exhibitions program at the Frye expanded into areas like video art and performance that questioned and upended the definition of representational art. In 2008, the Museum’s mission was revised to embrace art in its myriad forms. The Frye’s contemporary art collection has grown significantly since that time, reflecting the diversity of the institution’s engagement with local, national, and international artists working today.

Contemporary Art

by Artist

by Year

by Object Type

Bamboo No.23

Seer

La Clairière (The Meadow)

Still Life with Kumquats

Bamboo No.8

Cloud Reflections on Puget Sound

Bamboo No.4

Bamboo No.7

Cherry Pie

Bamboo No.6

Bamboo No.2

Hercules at the Crossroads

Bamboo No.3

Bamboo No.1

Bear Icon

Bamboo No.5

Ogle's Samovar

Mann bitt av en slange (Man Bitten by a Snake)

Prayer Before the Night

Blue-Eyed Susan

World of Wonders

Persian Peace

Four Workers

Basket of Flowers - Summer '91

Pumpkin People

Great Notions

Wild Rose Lard

Halibut Cove

Love Cyclamen

Windy Day

Window Installation

Painted Silhouette

Street Action