This installment examines the work of Northwest artists who traveled around the country and throughout the world seeking variation in their subject matter as well as expanding their exhibition opportunities.
Of special interest are the works of Louise Crow (1890-1968) who opened a studio in Santa Fe around 1916 and created an international reputation for her Southwest landscapes and modernist depictions of Native Americans. Her famous Eagle Dance, San Ildefonso, 1919 was the first internationally exhibited painting by a Washington State born artist, shown to great acclaim at the Salon d’Automne in Paris in 1921.
Other featured artists include Paul Morgan Gustin (1886-1974) who worked in Europe in the 1920’s, producing oil paintings, watercolors and etchings. Yvonne Twining Humber (1907-2004) who traveled extensively in Europe and Mexico along with her Austrian born husband throughout the 1950’s and early 60’s. Ambrose Patterson (1877-1966) and his wife, Viola Patterson (1898-1984) regularly traveled to Paris and other areas of France during the 1920’s and 30’s. Frances Blakemore (1906-1997) began her career in Seattle while attending the University of Washington in the 1920’s. After graduation she lived in Japan and produced an impressive body of work in painting, illustration and printmaking.
Blakemore’s depictions of Japan are being shown for the first time since their recent return to Seattle by the Blakemore Foundation’s office in Japan. Her depiction of the Shoji Hamada (1894-1978) ceramic kilns at Mashiko, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan is an extremely rare and unusual subject.
With this exhibition we hope to establish that our regional artists were able to make significant contributions to our international cultural identity beginning in the early 20th century.
This exhibition is sponsored by Alaska Airlines
Image Credit: Yvonne Twining Humber (1907-2004), Verona At Night, circa 1957. Oil and collage on masonite, Private Collection
April 5, 2018 – January 6, 2019