After checking out the chapel for 20 minutes or so, we jumped in the car and drove about a mile to other side of Seattle U's campus to the Frye Art Museum, which also has a new, very contemporary building. We arrived twenty minutes early so we went to find a coffee shop (not too terribly difficult in Seattle) and check out the neighborhood - which is full of hospitals: hence its nickname: "Pill Hill". The Frye is also near the Cathedral, a large neo-Baroque affair.
I really liked what Olson Sundberg Kundig archicts did with their expansion of the museum. It is very modern and dramatic, using water and vegitation in artful ways. The overall effect is very classical in feel with strong Japanese echoes as well. As with the Holl chapel, the detailing was rich and exquisite. I think that the details are what really make a building work aesthetically. This is the real reason why so much "modern" architecture is a disaster: because the there is no attention to the little details, to deep thinking about every minute element of the design. You can bring in traditional style(s), but if the building it put together in a shoddy manner, the results will be hideous. A case in point: The Billy Graham Center in Wheaton, Ill.
The museum has an eccentric collection of mostly late 19th century German realist/impressionist paintings and they have the policy (from the will of the founders) to exhibit only representational art. I really wanted to see a exhibit of their Wyeth holdings, especially Andrew. They had a large number of watercolors by Jamie and Andrew. Althought I don't paint like Andrew Wyeth (does anyone?), I really admire his technical ability and I have longed for several years now to see some of his works up close. Seeing his and Jamie's works side by side was illumitating - in watercolors, at least, their styles are very similar. It is amazing what they can accomplish with just three colors: sepia, green and black. My favorite work was Jamie's Wheelbarrow, a simple painting monumentally sillouetting an old wheelbarrow against an overcast sky. It reminded me of the famous William Carlos Williams poem - even the commonplace can be the stuff of real drama and poetry.
(to be continued)