The Henry Art Gallery ("The Henry") is a contemporary

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership, be accessible to all, or have restrictions in place. Although ...

located on the campus of the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, United States. Located on the west edge of the university's campus along 15th Avenue N.E. in the University District, it was founded in February, 1927, and was the first public art museum in the state of Washington. The original building was designed by

Bebb and Gould Bebb and Gould was an American architectural partnership active in Seattle, Washington from 1914 to 1939. Partners Charles Herbert Bebb and Carl Freylinghausen Gould were jointly responsible for the construction of many buildings on the Univers ...

. It was expanded in 1997 to , at which time the 154-seat

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoriums can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and t ...

was added. The addition/expansion was designed by

Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects Gwathmey Siegel Kaufman & Associates Architects LLC (formerly Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects) is a New York City-based architectural firm founded in 1967 by architects Charles Gwathmey and Robert Siegel. The firm's work ranges from art ...

Founder

The museum was named for Horace C. Henry, the local businessman who donated money for its founding, as well as a collection of paintings he had begun collecting in the 1890s after visiting the Chicago World's Fair. Henry donated the collection he built with his late wife Susan of 178 works of art, along with funds for construction, and the Henry Art Gallery opened to the public on February 10, 1927. Some years prior, Henry had added gallery space to his own home on

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill is a neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in both the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Northeast and Southeast, Washington, D.C., Southeast quadrants. It is bounded by 14th Street SE & NE, F S ...

, and from 1917 until the foundation of the Henry Gallery, he effectively operated a wing of his home as a free museum, open to the public 10 hours a week. In contrast to Charles and Emma Frye of Seattle's

Frye Art Museum The Frye Art Museum is a modern and contemporary art museum in the First Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1952 to house the collection of Charles and Emma Frye and has since grown to include rotating temporary exhibi ...

, Henry made no effort to control the future of the museum he financed; indeed, he specifically disavowed any such intention.

Exhibitions

The Henry's exhibition program is largely devoted to

contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

and the

history of photography The history of photography began with the discovery of two critical principles: The first is camera obscura image projection; the second is the discovery that some substances are visibly altered by exposure to light. There are no artifacts or de ...

. Major exhibitions have included Ann Hamilton: the common S E N S E (Oct 2014),

Katinka Bock Katinka Bock (born 1976) is a German sculptor and visual artist. She lives and works in Paris and Berlin. Early life Katinka Bock was born in Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, Ge ...

: A and I (2013),

Maya Lin Maya Ying Lin (Chinese: 林瓔; born October 5, 1959) is an American architect, designer and sculptor. Born in Athens, Ohio to Chinese immigrants, she attended Yale University to study architecture. In 1981, while still an undergraduate at Yal ...

(2006),

Lynn Hershman Leeson Lynn Hershman Leeson (née Lynn Lester Hershman; born June 17, 1941) is an American multimedia artist and filmmaker. Her work with technology and in media-based practices is credited with helping to legitimize digital art forms. Her interests inc ...

(2005–06),

Doug Aitken Doug Aitken (born 1968) is an American multidisciplinary artist. Aitken's body of work ranges from photography, print media, sculpture, and architectural interventions, to narrative films, sound, single and multi-channel video works, installatio ...

(2005),

James Turrell James Turrell (born May 6, 1943) is an American artist known for his work within the Light and Space movement. He is considered the "master of light" often creating art installations that mix natural light with artificial color through openings ...

(2003), and group exhibitions such as ''W.O.W. - The Work of the Work'', 2004–05, which explored contemporary art's appeal to non-visual senses and the body of the viewer.

Collection

The Henry's collection includes over 28,000 objects. The collection includes holdings in photography, both historical and contemporary, due to the partial gift and purchase of the Joseph and Elaine Monsen collection. In 1982, the Henry inherited a sizable collection from the University of Washington's former Costume and Textile Study Center. The Henry also holds a

Skyspace, ', a site-specific immersive sculpture finished in 2003. Like the Seattle baseball stadium, the Skyspace has a retractable roof. The Henry has made their collections available for research and general public interest by providing in-house and online public access though the Eleanor Henry Reed Collection Study Center and the online collections database. These resources allow students and the general public to explore collections for personal or professional research. Objects in the collection can be accessed on-site, by reservation only, through the Reed Collection Study Center or academic classes, adult study groups, and researchers. File:HAG2.JPG, Perspectival view of Henry Art Gallery File:Henry HABS.jpg, South elevation view as designed by

, prior to additions by Gwathmey Siegel File:Henry Art Gallery 01.jpg, Henry Art Gallery facing 15th Ave

Brink Award

The Brink Award was a biennial art award for an emerging artist from Washington, Oregon, or British Columbia worth $12,500. The award was established in 2008 and is administered by the Henry Art Gallery.

Past award winners

Isabelle Pauwels Isabelle Pauwels (born 1975 in Kortrijk, Belgium) is a Vancouver-based artist who works primarily in video-based art. Pauwels received a BFA from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and obtained an MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago. Pau ...

(2009) *

Andrew Dadson Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

(2011) * Anne Fenton (2013) * Jason Hirata (2015) *

Demian DinéYazhi' Demian DinéYazhi' (born 1983) is a Native American artist and activist. Their work and advocacy focuses on indigenous and LGBTQ+ people and "consists of photography, sculpture, text, sound, video, land art performance, installation, street art ...

(2017)

References

External links

Official siteArchives of the Northwest Art Project, oral histories of artists and others important to the Northwest art scene initiated by the Henry Art Gallery
- University of Washington Digital Collections {{authority control 1927 establishments in Washington (state) Art museums and galleries established in 1927 Art museums and galleries in Washington (state) Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums Museums in Seattle University museums in Washington (state) University of Washington buildings University and college buildings completed in 1927