SAM THROUGH THE DECADES

Spend an evening with the creative forces behind SAM’s collections and exhibitions at the Seattle Art Museum downtown! In honor of SAM’s upcoming 90th Anniversary, this season’s Conversations With Curators will explore the museum’s vast collection, past to present, with entertaining and academic lectures representing SAM through the decades.

Every third Wednesday each month between January and June
Doors open at 5:30 for short reception in the South Hall (with a free glass of wine!)
6–7 pm lecture in Plestcheeff Auditorium

Ticket sales directly support this series and help SAM continue to provide engaging member lectures and receptions.

Member ticket: $8
Member guest ticket: $15

Lectures will be recorded and made available for free at the conclusion of the series.

Major Sponsor

Double Elvis, 1963/1976, Andy Warhol

Portrait of Paul Splingaerd (1842–1906), dated 1906. Manuscript of the Sutra on Solemn Attainment of Buddhahood (Datong fangguang chanhui miezui zhuangyan chengfo jing) (detail), 8th century, Chinese

PHOTO: Benjamin Benschenider

Headdress – Shadae, 2019, Dana Claxton

Preview Seattle Art Museum, ca. 1942, Theodora Harrison

Installation view of Honoring 50 Years of Papunya Tula Painting, Seattle Art Museum, 2022, photo: Chloe Collyer.

JUN 21

Honoring 50 Years of Papunya Tula Painting

Pam McClusky / Oliver E. and Pamela F. Cobb Curator of African and Oceanic Art

Papunya paintings are a hallmark of the new chapter of art history that began in the western deserts of Australia. For centuries, Pintupi people traversed vast neighborhoods guided by ancestral laws and teachings. During the 20th century, they were forced into settlements that challenged their way of living. In 1972, as an act of rebellion, a group of elder men painted a mural of a Honey Ant dreaming on the side of a government schoolhouse where they felt the wrong stories were being taught. They honored ants whose bodies are fantastic globes of liquid and whose movements as ancestors helped establish the dynamic landscape. Join Pam McClusky as she draws from SAM's very own collection of these works by artists from Papunya who went on to launch a movement that is now 50 years old.

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Images: Double Elvis, 1963/1976, Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987), silkscreen ink, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, each panel: 82 1/4 x 59 1/8 in., National Endowment for the Arts, PONCHO and the Seattle Art Museum Guild, 76.9, ©️ The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. Portrait of Paul Splingaerd (1842–1906), dated 1906, oil on canvas. Photo courtesy of Anne Megowan Splingaerd. Manuscript of the Sutra on Solemn Attainment of Buddhahood (Datong fangguang chanhui miezui zhuangyan chengfo jing) (detail), 8th century, Chinese, Dunhuang, Mogao, ink on mulberry fiber paper, 10 5/8 × 19 5/16 in., Gift of Anna M. Bille, Fook-Tan, and Clara Ching, 2017.21. Photo: Benjamin Benschneider. Headdress – Shadae, 2019, Dana Claxton (Hunkpapa Lakota (Sioux), born 1959), LED firebox with transmounted chromogenic transparency, 60 1/2 x 40 1/2 x 7 in., Richard E. Lang and Jane Lang Davis Acquisition Fund for Global and Contemporary Art, 2022.2. Preview Seattle Art Museum, ca. 1942, Theodora Harrison (born in Ireland, 1890, died in Dublin, 1969), watercolor, 18 x 22 in., Gift of Jeremy Bell, 2022.31. Installation view of 50 Years of Papunya Tula Painting, Seattle Art Museum, 2022, photo: Chloe Collyer.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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