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Honoring the special role that Alaska has played in the history of the Frye Art Museum, Northern Latitude: The Frye and Alaska features a selection of the Museum’s Alaskan acquisitions, the majority of which were made by Ida Kay Greathouse, the Frye’s longest-serving director. Open June 19–September 19, 2010.

Mrs. Greathouse’s dedication to Alaskan art led to the Museum’s construction of an Alaska Wing, which opened in 1984. Including works by Eustace Paul Ziegler (1881–1969); Sydney Laurence (1865–1940); Theodore Roosevelt (Ted) Lambert (1905–1960); and Fred Machetanz (1908–2002), Northern Latitude captures the rugged wilderness and solitude experienced by artists when they sojourned to Alaska and encountered its expansive skies, isolated outposts, and panoramic views of snow-capped Mt. McKinley.

Although Ziegler was a close friend of Frye Art Museum founders Charles and Emma Frye, the couple did not collect Alaskan paintings. They did, however, have business ties to Alaska. In 1891, Charles Frye opened the Frye-Bruhn Meat Packing Company with his younger brother Frank and a childhood friend, Charles Bruhn. Headquartered in Seattle, Frye-Bruhn expanded into Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897, launching stations in several towns such as Juneau, Valdez, Skagway, Haines Mission, and Ketchikan. (The Frye-Bruhn building in Skagway is currently being considered for placement on the National Register of Historic Places.) The Fryes’ businesses and other investments enabled the establishment of the Frye Art Museum, which opened to the public in 1952.

Northern Latitude: The Frye and Alaska is curated by Jayme Yahr. Collections Management: Donna Kovalenko. Project Coordination: Laura Landau. The exhibition has been funded by the Frye Foundation with the generous support of Frye Art Museum members and donors.

The Frye Art Museum is dedicated to artistic inquiry, a rich visitor experience, and civic responsibility. A primary catalyst for our engagement with contemporary art and artists is the Founding Collection of late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century art by Munich-based artists. Admission to the Museum will always be free.

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1. Ida Kay Greathouse: A Tribute at the Frye Art Museum
2. Frye Art Museum Presents Picturing a Passion
3. New Exhibition Celebrates Frye Art Museum Founding Collection
4. Alaska Veterans Museum Opens
5. Frye Art Museum Opens Gabriel von Max: Be-tailed Cousins and Phantasms of the Soul