Spring Break visit to the Frye Art Museum

Spring Break visit to the Frye Art Museum

The Frye Art Museum at 704 Terry Avenue in Seattle Washington opened in 1952 and is the legacy of Charles and Emma Frye who were early-twentieth century Seattle business leaders and art collectors. On display in this 18,000 square foot space are pieces from the Frye Founding Collection of late nineteenth and earl-twentieth century European paintings and also exhibitions that the museum hosts for extended periods of time. When I visited the museum over break the exhibit that I focused on was called 36 Chambers, which is the title of James Joyce’s first series of poems. This exhibit helps to continue the museum’s commitment to the “citizen curator” by inviting the staff of the Frye Art Museum to choose works of art from the Founding Collection based on James Joyce’s poems in 36 Chambers. From this collection I chose one piece of art to focus on that I liked the best. The piece I selected is titled Summer Night, by German painter Hans Thoma, and is oil painted on paper on fabric.

                                                                                                                       

 

Hans Thoma

German, 1839-1924

Summer Night, 1882

Oil on paper on fabric

Frye Art Museum, Charles and Emma Frye Collection, 1952.171

XXIV                                                   

Sleep now, O sleep now,                  

O you unquiet heart!

A voice crying “Sleep now”

Is heard now in my heart

The voice if the winter

Is heard at the door.

O sleep, for the winter

Is crying “Sleep no more.”

My kiss will give peace now

And quiet to your heart –

Sleep on in peace now,

O you unquiet heart! 

Summer Night is a painting of a young boy sleeping in a woman’s arms. The little boy looks tired from what was probably a long, hot summer day and the woman, who I imagine is his mother, looks down lovingly at the boy as the day turns into night. The landscape in the background of trees and a full moon add to the peaceful theme of the painting. The poem paired with this painting makes the painting even more meaningful. The words of the poem speak of love and peacefulness. “My kiss will give peace now and quiet to your heart…” I think this part of the poem is beautiful because it represents the woman’s love for the boy as he is sleeping in her arms.

The design of this museum is simple. When you walk into the museum through the lobby you immediately pass a gift store and then enter into the gallery portion of the space, which is divided into massive rooms with very tall ceilings. The expansiveness of the rooms allows viewers to enjoy the artwork from different angles and distances. In the middle of these rooms were benches with seating for about four to eight people. This was the only seating offered throughout the entire space, which helps encourage the viewer to continue to move through the rooms in the museum. The way the rooms are arranged seems very arbitrary and encourages guests to wander through the museum however they feel. The different exhibits that are being shown in the museum usually have a description of what the exhibit is to help the guests understand what they will be looking at in the separate rooms. The paintings are spaced far enough apart so that the guests viewing the different works will not disturb one another while they are enjoying the art. The paintings are hung at the average eye level for the normal person who will be viewing the art.

The design of this space encourages the best possible viewing experience of the artwork. The walls on which the art is displayed were mostly white/off-white throughout the museum, however in the 36 Chambers exhibit, the walls were painted lilac and the lighting was dimmer than in the rest of the spaces. In the spaces with the white walls there was track lighting on the ceiling, which was the only source of light in the space. The lights were placed so that they did not create a glare, but rather made the viewing experience very pleasant. The combination of the white walls, light hardwood floors and soft light made the space calming and created a neutral slate for the art to be displayed. In the exhibit with the lilac walls, the paintings all had thick frames to separate them from the color of the walls, which helped to frame and emphasize the artwork. The dimmer track lighting made the spaces darker, but did not take away from the viewing of the art.

My visit to the Frye Art Museum was not only enjoyable because I got to view beautiful artwork, but also because I learned a lot about the layout of gallery spaces that I will hopefully be able to apply to my own design work.