Seattle Art Museum

In collaboration with Richard Hugo House, poets Daemond Arrindell, Seattle Slammaster, and Kary Wayson, author of the forthcoming American Husband, read new work in response to Michelangelo Public and Private: Drawings for the Sistine Chapel and Other Treasures from the Casa Buonarroti.

Featuring everyone from spoken wo...rd poets to literary figures, these evenings of words as art are at once intimate and engaging.

Free with museum admission.


After Hours print sponsor: SeattleWeekly

SAM is a recipient of The Wallace Foundation Excellence Award, created to support exemplary arts organizations to pioneer effective practices to engage more people in high-value arts activities.Read More

Luminous Jewels: Masterpieces of Asian Art from the Seattle Art Museum features nearly 100 of SAM’s Asian art masterpieces including paintings, screens, sculpture, ceramics, stone, wood, lacquer and metal ware. These highlights are currently touring five major Japanese museums. A Japanese-language catalogue has been pr...oduced for this show, featuring the latest scholarly research on these objects.

Inspired and educated by travel to Asia with his mother, SAM’s founding director Dr. Richard E. Fuller had a deep knowledge and passion for Asian art which went into his personal collection. Many of the works he collected, including those identified with the help of assistant director Sherman Lee and acquired through the generosity of other Seattle collectors, became the core of the museum’s collection and are still beloved by visitors. SAM’s Japanese collection is considered one of the top five in the world outside of Japan, and the extensive holdings include significant examples of ink painting, calligraphy, Buddhist sculpture, metalwork and folk textiles.

Since the exhibition catalogue is only available in Japanese, Curatorial Associate Catherine Roche’s lecture this Wednesday for members will be the first chance for English speakers to learn about exciting new research on some of SAM’s most important holdings.

Curator's Choice: Catherine Roche, Luminous Jewels
Members Art History Lecture
November 4, 2009, 7–8:30 pm
Plestcheeff Auditorium, SAM Downtown

One of Ten Swift Bulls (Shungyu-zu), ca. 1300, Japanese, Kamakura period, ink and color on paper, wood or horn, 10 5/8 x 12 1/4 in., Gift of Mrs. Donald E. Frederick, 50.66. Currently on view in Japan, in Luminous Jewels: Masterpieces of Asian Art from the Seattle Art Museum.Read More

The Katherine B. Baker Memorial Purchase Prize of $100 . . . was awarded to the much disputed abstract composition "Modal Tide" by Mark Tobey. Incidentally, that oil painting is a most welcome addition to the permanent collection of the Museum . . . The newspaper criticism of this exhibit and the generous space which ...was allowed for the resulting discussion was very beneficial, for it permitted us to clarify some points in regard to contemporary art.
-Richard E. Fuller, Director, Seattle Art Museum, Annual Report, 1940

What about this painting made such waves in 1940 Seattle?

To that point, the most successful Northwest artists were painting and sculpting recognizable forms: Moor swans, loggers, landscapes, etc. While influenced by the motion of the sea at his patrons’ beach house, Mark Tobey created here a rigorously abstract composition, one he would repeat in the murals that now hang in the Simons Board Room (SAM-DT). Not accustomed to such non-objective art, the public reaction to this painting was heated, though not heated enough to dissuade Dr. Fuller from adding the work proudly to the SAM collection.

Modal Tide, 1940, Mark Tobey, American, 1890 – 1976, oil on canvas, 34 1/2 x 47 3/8 in., Gift of the West Seattle Art Club, Katherine B. Baker Memorial Purchase Prize, 26th Annual Exhibition of Northwest Artists, Seattle Art Museum, 1940, 40.58

Currently viewable online: http://bit.ly/1ALqhrRead More

The cycle of life — and death — is beautiful. The Mexican tradition of El Día de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) celebrates the spirits of those who have passed on. Join La Banda Gozona for a special Art for All performance held in conjunction with SAM's Day of the Dead celebration.

Free and open to the public.


After H...ours print sponsor: SeattleWeekly

SAM is a recipient of The Wallace Foundation Excellence Award, created to support exemplary arts organizations to pioneer effective practices to engage more people in high-value arts activities.Read More