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The View from Here: The
Pacific Northwest 1800-1930
August 8, 2003 February 29,
2004
A provocative
assembly of perspectives of the Northwest from outside and within will be
on display in The View from Here: The Pacific Northwest 1800-1930, a
collection counterpoint exhibition to Baja
to Vancouver: The West Coast and Contemporary Art (Oct. 9, 2003
Jan. 4, 2004) at Seattle Art Museum from August 8, 2003 February
29, 2004. The View from Here presents a mosaic of 
attitudes and approaches of artists during a watershed
period in Northwest history. Collection counterpoints provide additional
insights and reinterpretations for special exhibitions and serves to thematically
connect the museums galleries. (right: Albert Bierstadt, American,
1830-1902, Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast, 1870, oil on canvas,
52 1/2 x 82 inches, Gift of the Friends of American Art at the Seattle Art
Museum, with additional funds from the General Acquisition Fund, 2000.70.
Photo: Paul Macapia)
The exhibition focuses on 19th century views of the Pacific
Northwest region and includes paintings, prints, photographs, objects and
Native American sculpture and basketry. Approximately 30 works drawn from
public, private and SAM's collection bring into focus the growth of the
region as an artistic center and the ways in which notions of modernity
and identity were brought to bear on art before the advent of the Northwest
School painters.
After the devastation of the Civil War years, the sublime
landscape of the West and fledgling Western settlements came to symbolize
the resilient, regenerative, and resourceful nature of the American character.
The exhibition provides an array of views from objects of Native American
tribes to landscape vistas seen through the exacting eyes of maritime scientists
or through the romantic lens of eastern visitors whose grand visions piqued
the curiosity of East Coast audiences. Artists, whether local or attached
to scientific surveys or acting as free-lancing entrepreneurs, recorded
the pristine wilderness as well as the growing cities of the Pacific Northwest.
The View from Here encompasses
the landscape genre, artworks of indigenous peoples including the Salish
and Makah tribes and individuals who came to call the Northwest their home.
Works featured in the exhibition include an 1801 silver Indian Peace Medal
carried as a token of friendship by the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Albert
Bierstadt's, Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast (1870), Imogen Cunningham's
On Mt. Rainier #9 (1915) and Edward Curtis' Evening on Mt. Rainier
(1904). 
Artists who came to call
the region home often eschewed the landscapes grand panorama to capture
more intimate scenes of natural beauty, visually exploring quiet neighborhoods
settled by ethnically diverse communities, or portraying burgeoning waterfront
commercial activities. (right: Soft Twined Storage Basket: Wolves
and Salmon Gills (T'cayas), Native American, Skokomish, Twana, ca. 1910,
cattail leaves, bear grass, and red cedar bark, H: 8 inches D: 10 1/4 inches,
Gift of John H. Hauberg, 86.91. Photo: Paul Macapia)
As a collection counterpoint, The View from Here
presents 19th century notions of modernity and identity while Baja to
Vancouver updates viewers by focusing on recent artworks, which respond
to and engage with the West Coast's physical and social landscapes. The
View from Here is curated by Barbara Brotherton, Curator of Native American
Art and Julie Emerson, The Ruth J. Nutt Curator of Decorative Arts.
Read more articles and essays concerning this institutional
source by visiting the sub-index page for the Seattle
Art Museum in Resource Library
Magazine
Search for more
articles and essays on American art in Resource Library. See America's Distinguished Artists for biographical information on historic artists.
This page was originally published in 2003 in Resource
Library Magazine. Please see Resource Library's Overview section for
more information.
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Fine Arts Organization, Inc., an Arizona nonprofit
corporation. All rights reserved.