Founding Collection

The Founding Collection reflects the distinctive vision of museum founders Charles and Emma Frye and celebrates late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century European and American art. The children of German immigrants, the Fryes became prominent business leaders and patrons of the arts after settling in Seattle in 1888. Their collection of 232 oil paintings, almost half of which features German artists, was formed during the years around 1900.

Charles and Emma Frye developed their passion for art at the Columbian Exposition, a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893. The experience had a great influence on the painterly subjects and artists the couple would collect in years to come. Over the next four decades, the Fryes acquired paintings while traveling abroad in Europe and from auctions, most notably those of American collections formed by Hugo Reisinger and Josef Stránský.

The Fryes famously hung their paintings floor to ceiling, salon style, in a specially built gallery space attached to their home on First Hill. Beyond Germany, the Fryes collected works by artists from Austria, Denmark, England, France, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, and the United States.

Highlights include works by two generations of artists from Munich—those of the Münchener Künstlergenossenschaft (Munich Artist’s Association) such as Franz von Defregger, Franz von Lenbach, Wilhelm Leibl, and Friedrich August von Kaulbach—and artists who formed the Munich Secession including Ludwig Dill, Hugo von Habermann, Otto Hierl-Deronco, Franz von Stuck, Wilhelm Trübner, Fritz von Uhde, and Heinrich von Zügel. Other notable works include paintings by Eugène Boudin, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Lillian Genth, Gabriel von Max, and Mihály de Munkácsy.

The Founding Collection continues to serve as a catalyst for artistic inquiry at the Frye Art Museum in exhibitions that reframe its works and history through a lens of contemporary scholarship.

Gorter, Arnold
1886-1933
Raschen, Henry
1875-1937
Ebert, Carl
1855-1865
Max, Gabriel von
1900-1915
Lenbach, Franz von
1885
Schreyer, Adolf
1848-1899
Kaulbach, Friedrich August von
1899
Wenglein, Josef
1865-1919
Raschen, Henry
1915-1920
Defregger, Franz von
1887
Zumbusch, Ludwig von
1882-1927
Braith, Anton
1865-1875
Zumbusch, Ludwig von
1882-1927
Raschen, Henry
1895-1905
Lenbach, Franz von
1901
Corrodi, Hermann
1895-1905
Zumbusch, Ludwig von
1903-1904
Bouguereau, William-Adolphe
1905
Marais, Adolphe Charles
1890
Raschen, Henry
1875-1937
Lenbach, Franz von
1890-1900
Ricci, Arturo
1880-1905
Trotter, Hortense
1896
Heffner, Karl
1900-1910
Slevogt, Max
1888
Raschen, Henry
1875-1937
Dill, Ludwig
1895-1905
Hengeler, Adolf
1908
Braith, Anton
1895
Isabey, Louis Gabriel Eugène
1850
Gorter, Arnold
1906-1915
Strützel, Otto
1871-1930
Kaulbach, Friedrich August von
1900-1910
Hoch, Franz-Xaver
1889-1916
Defregger, Franz von
1911
Barillot, Léon
1875-1885
Lhermitte, Léon-Augustin
1910
Lenbach, Franz von
1899
Raschen, Henry
1913
Gorter, Arnold
1905-1910
Zumbusch, Ludwig von
1904-1905
Hengeler, Adolf
1912
Barillot, Léon
1885-1895
Zumbusch, Ludwig von
1882-1927
Lenbach, Franz von
1873
Baer, Fritz
1900-1910
Raschen, Henry
1908-1918
Boudin, Eugène
1885-1889
Stuck, Franz von
1907
Gorter, Arnold
1886-1933
Salinas y Teruel, Juan Pablo
1885-1895
Gorter, Arnold
1906-1915
Raschen, Henry
1875-1937
Schreyer, Adolf
1870-1879
Willroider, Ludwig
1875-1885
Habermann, Hugo von
1911-1917
Max, Gabriel von
1900-1915
Strützel, Otto
1900-1910
Kaulbach, Friedrich August von
1913-1920
Raschen, Henry
1908-1918
van Veen, Pieter
1921
de Bock, Théophile
1871-1904
Koester, Alexander Max
1895-1905
Zumbusch, Ludwig von
1900-1910
Douglas, Walter
1915-1925
Zumbusch, Ludwig von
1900-1910
Scheuerer, Julius
1907
Lenbach, Franz von
1900
Zumbusch, Ludwig von
1882-1927
Genth, Lillian
1904-1914
Lenbach, Franz von
1902
Raschen, Henry
1908-1918
Wimmer, Gustav
1897-1952
van Veen, Pieter
1909-1919
Gorter, Arnold
1886-1933
Stevens, Alfred (in the manner of)
1844-1906
Moeller, Louis
1898-1908
Wenk, Albert
1912-1920
Kaulbach, Friedrich August von
1903-1913
Raschen, Henry
1875-1937
Winterhalter, Franz Xaver
1866
Hinkson, Mary
1883-1936
Knaus, Ludwig
1877
Willroider, Ludwig
1890-1899
Diez, Wilhelm von
1869
Defregger, Franz von (attributed to)
1875-1879
Max, Gabriel von
1900-1915
Ziem, Felix
1890-1899
Johnson, Charles Edward
1890
Max, Gabriel von
1900-1915
Boudin, Eugène
1885-1890
Zumbusch, Ludwig von
1882-1927
Heffner, Karl
1890
Zumbusch, Ludwig von
1907-1917
Raschen, Henry
1875-1937
Lenbach, Franz von
1896
Stuck, Franz von
1902
Geffcken, Walter
1908-1918
Weber, Marie
1870-1889
Califano, John
1900-1910
Max, Gabriel von
1881
Baer-von Mathes, Carola
1885-1895
Jongkind, Johan Barthold
1864
Diaz de la Peña, Narcisse Virgile
1870-1875
Schmutzler, Leopold
1905-1915
Firle, Walther
1884-1889
Lenbach, Franz von
1900
Raschen, Henry
1875-1937
Munkácsy, Mihály de
1884
Dahl, Hans
1900-1910
Heinisch, Karl A.
1867-1923
Uhde, Fritz von
1877
Lenbach, Franz von
1886
van Veen, Pieter
1918
Wierusz-Kowalski, Alfred von
1900-1915
Montemezzo, Antonio Matteo
1861-1898
Zumbusch, Ludwig von
1920
Defregger, Franz von
1887-1895
Schmid, Mathias
1886
Munkácsy, Mihály de
1869-1872
van Marcke de Lummen, Emile
1875-1885
Lenbach, Franz von
1901
Zumbusch, Ludwig von
1910-1912
Raschen, Henry
1913
Hoch, Franz-Xaver
1912
Zumbusch, Ludwig von
1882-1927
Schmutzler, Leopold
1905-1915
Zügel, Heinrich von
1900
Thoma, Hans
1882
Hoch, Franz-Xaver
1912
Steppes, Edmund
1907
Zügel, Heinrich von
1906
Max, Gabriel von
1904-1914
Geffcken, Walter
1908-1918
Raschen, Henry
1908-1918
Dubovskoi, Nikolai Nikanorovich
1899
Knaus, Ludwig
1857
Jardines, Jose Maria
1910-1920
Unterberger, Franz
1890s
Carlsen, Soren Emil
1895
Strützel, Otto
1912
Manet, Edouard (in the manner of)
1850-1883
Knaus, Ludwig
1845-1855
Ebert, Carl
1865-1875
Baer, Fritz
1875-1885
Voltz, Johann Friedrich
ca. 1883
Geyer, Georg
1866
Max, Gabriel von
1900-1915
Hengeler, Adolf
1883-1927
Stuck, Franz von
1908
Canal, Gilbert von
1900-1910
Zumbusch, Ludwig von
1882-1927
Cachoud, François
1914
Zumbusch, Ludwig von
1882-1927
Max, Gabriel von
1900-1915
Bouguereau, William-Adolphe
1881
Willroider, Ludwig
1865-1910
Lenbach, Franz von
1901
Zumbusch, Ludwig von
1906-1908
Corrodi, Hermann
1885-1895
Max, Gabriel von
1867
Stuck, Franz von
ca. 1925
Zügel, Heinrich von
1900-1925
Louyot, Edmond
1888-1898
Rosseau, Percival
1904
Feuerbach, Anselm
1853
Weber, Paul
1875-1885
Zumbusch, Ludwig von
1895-1900
Raschen, Henry
1875-1937
Lier, Adolf Heinrich
1860-1870
Heffner, Karl
1913
Cachoud, François
1895-1905
Gorter, Arnold
1906-1915
Soulacroix, Frederic
1873-1933
Hassam, Childe
1897
Neuhuys, Albert
1864-1914
Zumbusch, Ludwig von
1882-1927
Defregger, Franz von
1900-1910
Koester, Alexander Max
1910-1913
Somogyi, Dániel
1878
Max, Gabriel von
1890-1899
Defregger, Franz von
1905-1915
Bouguereau, William-Adolphe
1901
Heffner, Karl
1870-1880
Zumbusch, Ludwig von
1882-1927
Raschen, Henry
1875-1937
Hierl-Deronco, Otto
1879-1935
Zumbusch, Ludwig von
1899-1909
Liebermann, Max
1877-1887
Carlsen, Soren Emil
1911
Raschen, Henry
1916
Willroider, Ludwig
1885-1895
Speyer, Christian
1911
Lenbach, Franz von
1903
Majer, Gustav
1889
Monticelli, Adolphe
1846-1886
Lenbach, Franz von
1897
Kaulbach, Friedrich August von
1912-1922
Wierusz-Kowalski, Alfred von
1869-1915
Zügel, Heinrich von
1870-1880
Gorter, Arnold
1886-1933
Schmutzler, Leopold
1884-1941

Wash Day

Fritz Baer

Oil on linen

1875-1885

Landscape with Trees

Fritz Baer

Oil on linen

1900-1910

Herbstwald mit Kühen (Autumn Forest with Cows)

Carola Baer-von Mathes

Oil on linen

1885-1895

Cattle

Léon Barillot

Oil on linen

1875-1885

Three Cows and a Calf

Léon Barillot

Oil on linen

1885-1895

An d. Loisachtal (Loisach Valley)

Giulio Beda

Oil on linen

1895-1905

Dordrecht, The Cathedral

Eugène Boudin

Oil on panel

1885-1889

View of the Harbor, Le Havre

Eugène Boudin

Oil on panel

1885-1890