Seattle Fine Arts Society publications, 1920-1928
Bulletins of the Seattle Fine Arts Society
In 1920, the Seattle Fine Arts Society was open "Daily, from 12 to 5" (Sunday, 3 to 5). Their 1920 bulletin, Number Two, announces an exhibition of 55 paintings and sketches by Paul Morgan Gustin (SAM still has several works by Gustin in the collection and you can see one that was originally a gift to the Seattle Fine Arts Society here), a landscape artist from Vancouver, Washington, which was on view from October 10-November 6 of that year. It wasn't the first time they had shown the local's work; his first exhibition had happened about seven years prior in 1913, also hosted by the Seattle Fine Arts Society.
This particular bulletin also features excerpts from the articles of incorporation of the Society, which include a statement of purposes and objects:
To promote and cultivate the Fine Arts, and to that end to
maintain in the city of Seattle, art rooms or buildings, art library
and art instruction; to acquire works of art and exhibit paintings
sculpture, engravings, and other works of art ; to provide lectures
and generally to foster art in all its branches.
The Fine Arts Society relied on the monetary contributions of its members - $100 for lifetime membership! - to sustain growth and share art with the public. They urged citizens to purchase membership in order to further grow Seattle as an art city in the mode of East Coast capitals.
Our collection of SFAS publications picks up again with the December 1927 bulletin which announces a staggering two thousand and thirty active members.
President Carl F. Gould, who served in the role from 1926-1929, was instrumental in turning the Seattle Fine Arts Society into first the Art Institute of Seattle, and later SAM. He was also an architect with Bebb and Gould, the firm responsible for, among other things, the design of Seattle Art Museum's original Volunteer Park building. Curator Mildred E. McLouth, presumably fresh from her stint as Assistant Curator at LACMA, oversaw a growing collection of local art, the T.R. Fleming Collection of Chinese and Japanese paintings, the Fuller collection of jade and snuff bottles, watercolor, etchings, and sculpture. Decades before SAM opened its doors on the current downtown location, this bulletin tells us that "the Society has debated the question of a downtown gallery versus one outside of the shopping district. The decision has always been in favor of the downtown gallery, although the expense was more than we could carry" (little did they know that this dream would become a reality in 1991). The Society did find a home at 1117 Harvard Avenue North "through the generosity of Mr. Horace C. Henry" (p. 2, 1927).
Seattlelites Mr. and Mrs. Horton C. Force offered the use of their own home as an art reference library, which was created with generous contribution of books, magazine subscriptions, and other donations from the members themselves because "Too much importance cannot be stressed upon the need of such a valuable addition to the Society" (p. 3, 1927). Seattle Fine Arts Society placed a heavy emphasis on education with the library, a school extension program, Junior Fine Arts Activities (supervised by Mrs. Cebert Baillargeon), an evening sketch class, and children's classes under the instruction of none other than Paul Morgan Gustin. We also see an established gallery lecture series from both visiting speakers and Fine Arts Society Member Miss Eugenia Fuller (sister to SAM founder and longtime director Richard E. Fuller). Each of these initiatives continue to be an essential part of what today helps SAM live up to its mission to "Connect Art to Life."
Our earliest 1928 bulletin provides a brief history of the arts in Seattle, beginning with 1906 Seattle Artists club, through to their present state in 1928: a growing arts society in desperate need of more space and a permanent home. They secured a deal to relocate to the property and home of Mr. Horace C. Henry, a move that inspired visions of a future museum: "In the twenty-first year of our existence, as we come of age, we feel that by this deed we are entering a very important period in our history, as we are establishing for the first time what will become the great Civic Art Museum for Seattle" (p. 12, 1928).
These early bulletins also include itemized lists of finances, which include things like single personal donations ("Mrs. Kuner, Donation - $100", 1927) and events ("Beaux Arts Ball, 1928 - $600"), salaries ("Curators and Assistants - $793.30, 1928) and membership income ("Membership dues-Old - $3,668.85), rent ($1,267.55 total for the period from April 1, 1927 - March 31, 1928) and office supplies ("Postage, Stationery, Printing - $1184.44", 1928). It's an intimate look at the inner machinery of the organization, the growth from a small collection of Seattle Artists to a Fine Arts Society providing a civic service, and about to become actualized as a permanent museum.
Some of the pieces acquired during this time are still a part of SAM's collection - an enduring and indelible part of the DNA of the institution ("Rain" by Thomas Schofield Handforth is listed in the SFAS acquisitions for 1928).
By September 1928, the lengthier report-style bulletins were shortened to a concise foldout event announcement and calendar format. A list of classes, events, committees, and an announcement about gallery hours and "The Fourteenth Annual Exhibition of Northwest Artists", or later that year "The Exhibition of Sculpture by Allan Clark" - and that's all; a brief snapshot into a busy calendar year of a rapidly growing organization that, within four years, would catalyze into the Seattle Art Museum.