Beyond Mysticism: The Modern Northwest | Seattle Art Museum

Beyond Mysticism: The Modern Northwest | Seattle Art Museum
exhibitions
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Seattle Art Museum
Beyond Mysticism: The Modern Northwest
Mar 5–Aug 2 2026
Seattle Art Museum
Special Exhibition
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Drift No. 2
, 1936, Malcolm M. Roberts, American, 1913-1990, tempera on board, 25 1/2 x 20 5/8 in., Seattle Art Museum, Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection, 37.103, © Malcolm M. Roberts, photo: Scott Leen.
Inspired by the region’s natural beauty and rapidly changing city, this exhibition showcases artists who told the raw story of Seattle in the 20th century. By sharing the Pacific Northwest’s perspective through trending art styles—including Social Realism, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism—these artists offered a unique take on Modernist art and challenged the “mystic” label ascribed to their works.
Spearheading the movement were local icons Mark Tobey, Kenneth Callahan, Guy Anderson, and Morris Graves—but the range and breadth of Pacific Northwest art goes beyond the “Big Four” of the Northwest School. Featuring more than 150 pieces, this exhibition showcases works that investigate the complexities of daily life in the region. Whether applying an ecocritical lens or producing dreamy and uncanny visuals, these artists expressed the duality of the natural world and city life to warn of the environmental and social impacts of industrialization.
From Malcolm Roberts to Kenjiro Nomura, learn how Northwest artists applied their regional perspective to broader artistic developments to create a new form of American Modernism.
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue authored by Theresa Papanikolas, SAM’s Ann M. Barwick Curator of American Art.
Beyond Mysticism: The Modern Northwest
was organized by the Seattle Art Museum. Presenting Sponsors
Major Sponsors
Art Bridges
Bette and David Sprague Exhibition Endowment
Wyeth Foundation for American Art
Supporting Sponsors
Beane Family Foundation
Noah Musler and Lucy Wang
Nguy
n Thanh Chuân and Essie Jacobs*
Eric Peterson and Barbara Pomeroy
Perkins Coie LLP
The Twining Humber Fund
Hotel Sponsor
Warwick Seattle
Bust of Voltaire
, 1941, Salvador Dalí, Spanish, 1904-1989, oil on canvas, 18 1/4 in x 21 3/4 in, Collection of The Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg, FL (USA); Gift of A. Reynolds & Eleanor Morse, 2007.9, © 2025 Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Artists Rights Society, photo: Courtesy of the Dalí Museum
Feller
, 1934, Kenneth Callahan, American, 1905-1986, oil painting, 31 1/8 x 22 in., Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection, 40.51, photo: Scott Leen.
Suburban Street
, 1940, Yvonne Twining Humber, American, 1907 - 2004, oil on canvas, 20 x 29 in., Margaret E. Fuller Purchase Prize, 31st Annual Exhibition of Northwest Artists, 45.84, photo: Scott Leen.
Modal Tide
, 1940, Mark Tobey, American, oil on canvas, 34 1/2 x 47 3/8 in., Overall h.: 39 1/2 in. Overall w.: 52 3/4 in., Gift of the West Seattle Art Club, Katherine B. Baker Memorial Purchase Prize, 26th Annual Exhibition of Northwest Artists, 40.58, photo: Paul Macapia
The Inception of Magic
, 1945, Leo Kenney, American, 1925-2001, Egg tempera on composite board, 36 1/8 x 24 1/8 in., Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection, 45.52, © Estate of Leo Kenney, photo: Elizabeth Mann.
The Timber Bucker
, ca. 1934, Ernest Ralph Norling, American, 1892–1974, oil on canvas, 34 1/8 × 40 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, Transfer from the US Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1965.18.35, photo: Courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Composition Around White
, 1957, Charles Sheeler, American, 1883-1965, tempera on plexiglass 7½ × 8¼ in. Collection of Bill and Holly Marklyn, photo: Courtesy of Bill and Holly Marklyn
Pool Below Kettle Falls
, 1939-1941, Z. Vanessa Helder, American, 1904-1968, watercolor on illustration board, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture / Eastern Washington State Historical Society, Spokane, Washington , Museum Purchase, 1954, 2585.13, photo: Courtesy of the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture.
Speed, Color, and Action
, ca. 1938–39, Julius “Land Elk” Twohy, lithograph on wove paper Image: 16 5/8 × 9 ½ in., Sheet: 19 1/8 × 12½ in. Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, FA 69.82, photo: Courtesy of the Fine Arts Collection, U.S. General Services Administration New Deal Art Project.
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