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May 3, 2004
Contact: Roxanne Hadfield
(206) 622-9250 Ext. 220
Two paintings added to contemporary collection
 SEATTLE, (Wash.) – First Hill’s Frye Art Museum recently received from separate donors two paintings for the Museum’s permanent collection.
James Aponovich’s Still Life with Kumquats (1993) is the third donation of major works of contemporary art from Chicago art collectors Howard and Judy Tullman. Tullman is the president of Kendall College in Evanston, Ill., and chairman of the board of The Cobalt Group, a Seattle-based provider of Internet services.
In competition with several museums, and after intensive review, the Frye was selected to receive Temma on Earth (Tim Lowly, 1999) by Chicago-based art collector Andreas Waldburg-Wolfegg, in memory of his parents Ida and Max Waldburg-Wolfegg.
"The Frye is absolutely delighted with the donation of these two significant paintings," said Museum Curator Debra Byrne. "They are important additions to our growing permanent collection of contemporary representational art." Both gifts were facilitated by Susan Gescheidle of Chicago’s gescheidle (gallery).
Unlike many of the recent acquisitions of the Frye’s collection, Aponovich’s Still Life with Kumquats is surprisingly non-edgy. It arrived at the Museum in November 2003. The oil on canvas still life features brilliant colors and sensuous imagery, much of it derived not from objects in front of the artist, but from his imagination. Tullman and his wife also donated Catherine Murphy’s Bedside Still Life (1982) in December 2001 and James Valerio’s Dishes No. 1 (1984) in December 2002 to the Frye.
"I believe the support of contemporary visual art and artists is important in any community," Tullman said. "The Frye’s collection of representational art reflects my own interests; I love their programming, and giving the Aponovich to this museum allows me to give something back to the Seattle community, home of one of my most important investment projects – The Cobalt Group."
Temma on Earth, the eye-catching, startling acrylic on panel is a portrait of the artist’s disabled daughter, who is graphically depicted on a barren landscape from an aerial perspective. The drawing for this painting was displayed in the Frye exhibition The Perception of Appearance: a Decade of Contemporary American Figure Drawing in 2002, and is included in the permanent collection of the Arkansas Art Center.
This is the second substantial Lowly piece purchased by collector Waldburg-Wolfegg. When he first saw Temma on Earth, he was struck by the "very existential question that Temma and her disability pose. While other artists often use the element of shock to ask these questions, Tim’s work draws strength from its more contemplative and detached qualities."
The artist himself asks, "How do we regard one who, by their being, takes us to a disorienting territory that is neither life nor death?" To invite contemplation of such a question, Waldburg-Wolfegg wanted to make the piece available to a wider audience, so Gescheidle sold him the painting and facilitated the donation process to the Frye.
"Tim Lowly is an incredible artist and this painting is noteworthy," said Gescheidle. "While the subject matter is somewhat unsettling, there is a beauty to the painting – it is simultaneously captivating and haunting."
"Andreas and I wanted to find the perfect home for Temma. Because of its status as the leading museum of representational art in the Northwest – and their enthusiasm for the piece – the Frye was the clear choice." Gescheidle and Waldburg-Wolfegg reviewed seven candidates for the painting, traveling to several of the museums before delivering the piece to the Frye in January of this year. The Frye’s ability to exhibit the 8’ x 12’ panel, combined with its West Coast locale, offered the ability to increase awareness about Lowly beyond the East Coast and Midwest.
The Frye is now exhibiting these two works in the Viewpoints Gallery through the end of April. Following, they will remain on view in the Museum in an area reserved for new acquisitions.
For more information, contact Roxanne Hadfield, (206) 622-9250 Ext. 220
ABOUT THE FRYE:
The Frye Art Museum acquires, preserves, exhibits, and interprets visual art of the highest quality, celebrating the grand tradition and contemporary practice of representational art, with an emphasis on painting and sculpture from the nineteenth century to the present. Recognizing that art is not limited by geographical boundaries, the museum will include works by regional, national, and international artists in its collections and present them in exhibitions. As a visual arts institution, the museum is committed to stimulate, challenge, and educate the community in all that it does. In the belief that art should be accessible to all who wish to enjoy it, admission to the museum shall be free to the public at all times. The Frye Art Museum is accredited by the American Association of Art Museums.
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