Director's Choice: American and European Masters from the Museum Collections

Frye Art Museum

photo by Jill Berarducci

Seattle, Washington

(206) 622-9250

Director's Choice: American and European Masters from the Museum Collections

July 31 - September 6, 1998

Works recently acquired by the Frye Art Museum, ranging from the 19th-century to the 1990s, will be the highlight of an exhibition entitled Director's Choice beginning July 31, 1998. Paintings on display for the first time include American realist artist William Beckman's My Father and Sea Breeze by Peter Poskas. The paintings in this exhibition reflect the growth and development of the Frye Art Museum collections since the opening of the original museum in 1952.

Walser and Kaye Greathouse, the first directors of the museum, made a number of astute purchases during the 40-plus years that they collected. They built a comprehensive collection of works by American artists, as well as a sampling of paintings by French impressionists and other 19th-century European artists. During the past three years, acquisitions have continued through gift and purchase.

Above: Winslow Homer, The Wheat Gatherer, 1867, oil on canvas, 9 3/4 x 12 1/2 inches; Above Right: Thomas Eakins, Maybelle, 1898; Below Right: John Singer Sargent, Portrait of Mrs. Frederick William Roller, 1895, oil on canvas, 88 x 44 1/2 inches; Below Left: Leslie Morgan, Bear Icon, 1992, oil and copper leaf on linen, 30 x 40 inches.

American examples range from 18th-century portraits by John Singleton Copley and Gilbert Stuart to the romantic landscapes of George Inness, Ralph Blakelock, and Jasper Cropsey. Added to this group are two recently acquired dramatic paintings of the West from the 1870s: Albert Bierstadt's Rainbow in the Sierra Nevada and a view of Mount Shasta in a lightning storm by Cleveland Rockwell.

Realism is represented in paintings by Thomas Eakins and Winslow Homer. Other artists, such as William Merritt Chase, John Twachtman, Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, and James McNeill Whistler reflect late 19th-century developments in American art. This area has been strengthened by the addition of a Tonalist work, Woman in Black by John White Alexander, recently acrluired by the museum. Early 20th-century examples on display include works by Robert Henri, George Bellows, and John Sloan.

Impressionist artists Berthe Morisot, Camille Pisarro, Alfred Sisley, Auguste Renoir, and Gustave Caillebotte represent French art in paintings, pastels, and watercolors. A rare, early representational work by Pablo Picasso is also included in the exhibition.

Many of the new additions highlight contemporary developments in representational art. Nerdrum's powerful Man Bitten by a Snake and other recent acquisitions demonstrate that the historic tradition of representation is alive and well in the hands of gifted and serious contemporary artists.

What: Director's Choice: American and European Masters from the Museum Collections

When: July 31 - September 6, 1998

Where: 704 Terry Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104

Admission: Free

Parking: Free

Phone: 206-622-9250

Read more in Resource Library Magazine about the Frye Art Museum.

For further biographical information on selected artists cited above please see America's Distinguished Artists, a national registry of historic artists.

rev. 11/26/10

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