Search results for ""Seattle Art Museum""

Founded in 1933, the Seattle Art Museum is home to a premier collection of Chinese art. This book is the first to chronicle and analyze the growth of the collection, which was largely assembled during the first half of the twentieth century. Reviewing more than one hundred boxes of museum archives, annual reports, correspondences, and available records of all transactions, Josh Yiu provides a nuanced account of Seattle’s Chinese art collection, and reconsiders the “golden age” of collecting Chinese art in the early twentieth century. Yiu demonstrates the challenges for Westerners to acquire authentic objects of historical significance when Chinese art study in the West was in its nascent stage. He argues that a first-rate collection is a condition that needs to be maintained through relentless quest for superior objects. As a case in point, Seattle’s collection of more than 2,500 objects was not merely accumulated over time, but distilled through decades of nimble acquisitions and deaccessions. The main figure behind this story is the founding director Dr. Richard Fuller (1897–1976), who started collecting as early as the 1910s. In contrast to conventional hagiographical accounts of museum patrons, Yiu shows how Fuller’s interest shifted from tourist souvenirs to high-quality objects that represent China’s artistic legacy, and how he refined the collection over time. Gradually Fuller became a great collector through diligent study and earnest consultation with experts, such as Sherman Lee. The book thus serves as a vivid reminder that good collection requires much more than resources and “good taste.”

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Seattle art collectors Richard E. Lang and Jane Lang Davis were frequent visitors to New York City in the 1970s and early 1980s when they collaboratively built their collection, filling their home with singular works of art. Their shared legacy and passion for engaging thoughtfully, deeply, and personally with art—and the frisson of excitement that arises with such a connection—are celebrated and echoed in this special exhibition catalogue. Spanning 1945 through 1976, the paintings, drawings, and sculptures in Frisson serve as significant examples of mature works and pivotal moments of artistic development from some of the most influential American and European artists of the postwar period, including Francis Bacon, Lee Krasner, Clyfford Still, Philip Guston, Joan Mitchell, David Smith, and others. Together they represent an inimitable archive of innovation and a cross-pollination of leading artistic positions in the postwar years. With twenty new scholarly essays written by leading experts, Frisson provides the first opportunity for in-depth research into and new insights about nineteen noteworthy artworks recently acquired by the Seattle Art Museum.

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In spring 2023 the Seattle Art Museum announced that patrons Jon and Kim Shirley had generously gifted the Shirley Family Collection to the museum. The collection—one of the most important private holdings of Alexander Calder’s art—is the result of thirty-five years of thoughtful acquisitions and features many significant examples from his production. It comprises more than forty-five artworks representing every decade of the artist’s career, including superlative examples of his wire sculptures, hanging mobiles, and stationary stabiles dating from the 1920s to the 1970s. This richly illustrated publication accompanies SAM’s inaugural exhibition of works from the collection, demonstrating Calder’s unique vision, which has had a profound influence on contemporary culture. It features a curatorial foreword by José Carlos Diaz; short essays by Jon Shirley tracing his evolution as a passionate and informed collector of Calder’s work and discussing the importance of scale in the artist’s sculpture, which ranges from the miniature to the monumental; and an essay by art historian Elizabeth Hutton Turner that expands on the artist’s life and his extraordinary impact on twentieth-century art. Short contributions by Alexander S. C. Rower, president of the Calder Foundation and grandson of the artist, focus on ten of the collection’s artworks, situating them within Calder’s oeuvre.

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Both the Edo period (1603–1868) in Japan and the late nineteenth century in France witnessed a multitude of challenges to the status quo from the rising middle class. In Edo (present-day Tokyo), townspeople pursued hedonistic lifestyles as a way of defying the state-sanctioned social hierarchy that positioned them at the bottom. Their new pastimes supplied subject matter for ukiyo-e (pictures of the floating world). Many such pictures arrived in France in the 1860s, a time when French art and society were undergoing substantial changes. Fin-de-siècle Paris, like Edo before it, saw the rise of antiestablishment attitudes and a Bohemian subculture. As artists searched for fresh and more expressive forms, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) and his contemporaries were drawn to novel Japanese prints. While ukiyo-e's formal influences on Toulouse-Lautrec and his peers have been well studied, the shared subversive hedonism that underlies these artworks has been less examined. Through a wide selection of Japanese prints and Toulouse-Lautrec works, this book offers a critical look at the renegade spirit inhabiting the graphic arts in both Edo and Paris, highlighting the social impulses behind a burgeoning art production. Exhibition dates: Seattle Asian Art Museum, July 21–December 3, 2023

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The complexity and confusion of styles and intentions are true characteristics of modern Chinese art. Just as the definition of “modernity” was subjected to reinterpretations at various points in China’s recent history, current notions of the canon are likewise subjected to change. This book — consisting of ten articles by art historians, artist, historian, and curator — explores the developments of Chinese art in the 20th century, applying critical theories to question and reinterpret concepts that are normally taken for granted. Their writings also reveal the thought processes in which the authors filtered what they considered to be important information, especially regarding people, events, dates, and artworks. As such, the topic of each article is, in itself, a result of judicious selection. This volume demonstrates how modern Chinese art history has been — and can be — written.

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Few regions of the country produced such a distinctive group of artists with such a particular view on the modern world as did the Pacific Northwest in the 1930s and 1940s. Capitalizing on their particular geographical position at what was a modern art outpost — working free from the strong influences of New York and Europe, and sitting at the portal to the Far East — a close-knit group of artists sought to address the global political, social, and economic ills of their time. The seminal figures in this group — Mark Tobey and Morris Graves especially — quickly garnered critical attention in New York for their uncommon imagery and expressive technique, which drew upon spiritual tenents ranging from Zen Buddhism to the Persian Baha’i faith and their mastery of Asian calligraphy. Modernism in the Pacific Northwest presents an overview drawn from SAM’s unparalleled collection of the key figures of this generation: Mark Tobey, Morris Graves, Guy Anderson, Kenneth Callahan, Leo Kenney, Paul Horiuchi, George Tsutakawa, Phil McCracken, James Washington Jr., and Tony Angell.

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Mel Katz is a highly regarded Portland sculptor and teacher whose work is firmly rooted in the principles of geometric abstraction. He moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1964 to teach at Portland State University, where he taught for the next thirty-two years. He helped found the Portland Center for the Visual Arts in 1971, one of the first alternative artist spaces in the country. Originally trained as a painter, Katz has produced a remarkable body of work over the past fifty years that reflects his unique journey from painter to sculptor, working in many different media, including polyurethane, fiberglass, wood, formica, steel, and aluminum. Katz has been featured in numerous one-person and group exhibitions throughout the United States, including the First Western States Biennial. He was the subject of a major retrospective exhibition at the Portland Art Museum in 1988 and was included in the traveling exhibition, Still Working, in 1994. His work is included in the collections of the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Portland Art Museum, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, the Seattle Art Museum, the Tacoma Art Museum, the Oregon Arts Commission, the City of Seattle, and many national corporations.

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Thoroughly researched and beautifully produced, this catalogue complements the first comprehensive retrospective in the United States of Imogen Cunningham's work in over thirty-five years. Celebrated American artist Imogen Cunningham (1883-1976) enjoyed a long career as a photographer, creating a large and diverse body of work that underscored her unique vision, versatility, and commitment to the medium. An early feminist and inspiration to future generations, Cunningham intensely engaged with Pictorialism and Modernism; genres of portraiture, landscape, the nude, still life, and street photography; and themes such as flora, dancers and music, hands, and the elderly. Organized chronologically, this volume explores the full range of the artist's life and career. It contains nearly two hundred color images of Cunningham's elegant, poignant, and groundbreaking photographs, both renowned and lesser known, including several that have not been published previously. Essays draw on primary sources at the Imogen Cunningham Trust, the Cunningham papers at the Archives of American Art, and contributing author Susan Ehrens's personal interviews with the artist's associates, incorporating a selection of letters, family albums, and other intimate materials to enrich readers' understanding of Cunningham's motivations and work. This volume is published to accompany an exhibition on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center September 15, 2020, to January 10, 2021 and at the Seattle Art Museum, February 11 to May 23, 2021.

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For nearly two decades, Preston Singletary has straddled two unique cultures, melding his Tlingit ancestry with the dynamism of the Studio Glass Movement. In the process, he has created an extraordinarily distinctive and powerful body of work that depicts cultural and historical images in richly detailed, beautifully hued glass. Singletary has translated the visual vocabulary of patterns, narratives, and systems of Native woodcarving and painted art into glass, a material historically associated with Native peoples through an extensive network of trading routes. Singletary entered the world of glassblowing as an assistant, mastering the techniques of the European tradition as he worked alongside Seattle-area artists such as Benjamin Moore and Dante Marioni. He also had opportunities to learn the secrets of the Venetian glass masters while working with Italian legends Lino Tagliapietra and Pino Signoretto. The Northwest Native icons, supernatural beings, transformative themes, animal spirits, shamanism, and basketry design of Singletary's Tlingit heritage are manifested in his work, creating a unique whole that resonates on many levels and reveals a new artistic direction. This mid-career retrospective of his work includes contributions by Melissa G. Post, Steven Clay Brown, and Walter Porter, as well as a DVD of Singletary working in his studio. Preston Singletary's works are in museum collections around the world, including the National Museum of the American Indian; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Seattle Art Museum; Corning Museum of Glass; Mint Museum of Art; the Heard Museum; and the Handelsbanken (Stockholm, Sweden).

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Five decades of work by groundbreaking Indigenous artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Throughout her career as artist, activist, and educator, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (b. 1940) has forged a personal yet accessible visual language she uses to address environmental destruction, war, genocide, and the misreading of the past. An enrolled Salish member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation, Smith cleverly deploys elements of abstraction, neo-expressionism, and pop, fusing them with Indigenous artistic traditions to upend commonly held conceptions of historical narratives and illuminate absurdities in the formation of dominant culture. Her drawings, prints, paintings, and sculptures blur categories and question why certain visual languages attain recognition, historical privilege, and value, reflecting her belief that her “life’s work involves examining contemporary life in America and interpreting it through Native ideology.” Also central to Smith’s work and thinking is the land and she emphasizes that Native people have always been part of the land: “These are my stories, every picture, every drawing is telling a story. I create memory maps.” The publication illustrates nearly five decades of Smith’s work in all media, accompanied by essays and short texts by contemporary Indigenous artists and scholars on each of Smith’s major bodies of work. Distributed for Whitney Museum of American Art Exhibition Schedule:Whitney Museum of American Art, New York April 19–August 13, 2023Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth October 15, 2023–January 7, 2024Seattle Art Museum February 15–May 12, 2024

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Explore every corner of the Emerald City, from coffee shops to mountain hikes, with Moon Seattle.*Explore the City: Navigate by neighbourhood or by activity with colour-coded maps, or follow self-guided neighbourhood walks*See the Sights: Watch the fishmongers sling the catch of the day at Pike Place Market, or grab a pick-me-up at the original Starbucks. Zig zag through the Olympic Sculpture Park, watch sharks swim above you in the Seattle Aquarium's underwater dome, admire Northwest art at the Seattle Art Museum, or watch the sunset from Space Needle observation deck*Get a Taste of the City: Find the best cup of coffee, sample fresh oysters, and indulge in the city's innovative cuisine*Bars and Nightlife: Lounge at an old-school jazz club, discover the next big indie artist, get a flight of beers at a local microbrewery, or sip craft cocktails in a swanky speakeasy*Expert Advice: Emerald City native Allison Williams shares what locals love about Seattle*Strategic Itineraries and Day Trips: Make the most of your trip with ideas for foodies, culture-seekers, families travelling with kids, and more, or explore nearby Bainbridge Island, Mount Rainier National Park, Tacoma, and Bellevue*Full-Colour Photos and Detailed Maps*Handy Tools: Background information on history and culture, plus an easy-to-read foldout map to use on the goExperience the best of the city with Moon Seattle's practical tips and local know-how.Road tripping along the coast? Test-drive Moon Pacific Northwest Road Trip. Visiting more of the state? Check out Moon Washington.

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A comprehensive survey of the work of the legendary Swiss artist, this book illustrates and examines more than 100 of his sculptures, paintings, drawings, and prints This lavishly illustrated retrospective traces the early and midcareer development of the preeminent Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti (1901–1966), examining the emergence of his distinct figural style through works including a series of walking men, elongated standing women, and numerous busts. Rare paintings and drawings from his formative period show the significance of landscape in Giacometti’s work, while also revealing the influence of the postimpressionist painters that surrounded his father, the artist Giovanni Giacometti. Other areas of inquiry on which Alberto Giacometti casts new light are his studio practice—amply illustrated with photographs—his obsessive focus on depicting the human head, his collaborations with poets and writers, and his development of the walking man sculpture, thanks to numerous drawings, many of which have never been shown. Original essays by modern art and Giacometti specialists shed new light on era-defining sculptural masterpieces, including the Walking Man, the Nose, and the Chariot, or on key aspects of his work, such as the significance of surrealism, his drawing practice, or the question of space.Distributed for the Cleveland Museum of ArtExhibition Schedule:Cleveland Museum of Art (March 12–June 12, 2022)Seattle Art Museum (July 14–October 9, 2022)Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (November 13, 2022–February 12, 2023)The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City (March 19–June 18, 2023)

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With a wealth of images and commentary, this is the essential career survey of Cave's socially responsive art The definitive volume on the ever-evolving and shape-shifting work of the Chicago-based artist, Nick Cave: Forothermore highlights the way Cave’s practice has shifted and continues to shift in response to our history and current moment of cultural crisis. Including several new, never-before-seen works, the book shows an artist at the height of his power. Addressing topics ranging from art history to social justice, Nick Cave: Forothermore includes essays from Naomi Beckwith, Romi Crawford, Antwaun Sargent, Malik Gaines, Krista Thompson and Meida Teresa McNeal. Punctuating these contributions are interviews with the artist exploring his life, work and teaching practice, as well as a roundtable discussion between Cave and dancer Damita Jo Freeman, musician Nona Hendryx and publisher Linda Johnson Rice on Cave's art and influences, as well as pivotal cultural phenomena from Soul Train to Ebony magazine. Nick Cave: Forothermore reveals the way art, music, fashion and performance can help us envision a more just future. Nick Cave (born 1959) is an artist and educator working between the visual and performing arts through a wide range of mediums, including sculpture, installation, video, sound and performance. Cave is well known for his Soundsuits, sculptural forms based on the scale of his body, initially created in direct response to the police beating of Rodney King in 1991. Cave has had major exhibitions at MASS MoCA (2016), Cranbrook Art Museum (2015), Saint Louis Art Museum (2014–15), ICA Boston (2014), Denver Art Museum (2013), Seattle Art Museum (2011) and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (2009), among others. Cave lives and works in Chicago.

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Buckle up for the best of the PNW's breathtaking wilderness, eclectic cities, and quaint coastal towns with Moon Pacific Northwest Road Trip. Inside you'll find:* Multiple Routes: Take the full two-week trip or mix and match suggestions for spending time in the Olympic Peninsula, Seattle, Portland, the Oregon Coast, Vancouver, and more* Eat, Sleep, Stop and Explore: With lists of the best hikes, views, and more, you can venture through lush rainforest in search of towering waterfalls, race across sand dunes on the Oregon Coast, and kayak the Puget Sound. Marvel at totem poles carved by First Nation tribes in Vancouver, study the contemporary masterpieces at the Seattle Art Museum, or tour Oregon's collection of picturesque lighthouses. Indulge in a food truck feast in Portland, sample cheese and ice cream in Tillamook, or snack on authentic Canadian poutine * Maps and Driving Tools: Over 30 easy-to-use maps keep you oriented on and off the motorway, along with site-to-site mileage, driving times, detailed directions, and full-colour photos throughout* Local Insight: Native Washingtonian and outdoorswoman Allison Williams shares her favourite spots and experiences in the Pacific Northwest* Planning Your Trip: Know when and where to get gas, how to avoid traffic, tips for driving in different road and weather conditions, and suggestions for LGBTQ+ travellers, seniors, and road trippers with childrenWith Moon Pacific Northwest Road Trip's flexible itineraries and practical tips for weekend getaways or a complete PNW escape, you're ready to fill up and hit the road!Looking to explore more of the West on wheels? Try Moon Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip! Doing more than driving through? Check out Moon Coastal Oregon or Moon Olympic Peninsula.About Moon Travel Guides: Moon was founded in 1973 to empower independent, active, and conscious travel. We prioritize local businesses, outdoor recreation, and traveling strategically and sustainably. Moon Travel Guides are written by local, expert authors with great stories to tell-and they can't wait to share their favorite places with you.For more inspiration, follow @moonguides on social media.

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"A fresh lens for viewing Jacob Lawrence's art: through the perspective of teens of color. . . . An invaluable resource amplifying marginalized teen voices and conveying Lawrence's relevance to their own lives." —Kirkus Reviews In the mid-1950s, as Brown v. Board of Education felled the ideology of “separate but equal,” the great African-American artist Jacob Lawrence saw the need for a version of American history that reckoned with its complexities and contradictions yet was shared by all its citizens. The result was his monumental work Struggle . . . from the History of the American People.Lawrence, the best known black American artist of the 20th century, developed the series of thirty panels, each measuring 12 × 16 inches, over the course of two years. Lawrence created the panels as history you could hold in your hands and intended to reproduce the images in a book that he never realized. The paintings depict signal moments in the American Revolution and the early decades of the American republic, and feature the words and actions of founding fathers, enslaved people, women, and Native Americans. In January 2020, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, is mounting the landmark exhibition, Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle. The show, which unites the panels in one place for the first time in nearly half a century, then travels to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama, the Seattle Art Museum, and the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., on a two-year national tour.In the spirit of Lawrence’s project, this collection includes brief interpretive texts written by teens in response to the Struggle series. This illustrated book features a chorus of thirty singular young adult voices expressing how Lawrence and his Struggle series speaks to them on a personal, emotional level. The young writers come from a broad variety of races and ethnicities, nationalities, religions, genders, sexualities, and abilities, and underrepresented voices. As Jacob Lawrence mined American history to reflect upon events he saw happening around him in segregation-era America, these young adults use these panels to comment on their experiences in today’s America.

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