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Photo: Paul Macapia
The Flux
Photo: Paul Macapia

The Flux

Date1955
Label TextFrank Okada was a leading exponent of abstract painting in the Northwest during the second half of the twentieth century, first making gestural, allover compositions such as this while a student at the Cranbrook Academy in Michigan, and two years later, spending more than a year living among New York School artists where he found further inspiration and camaraderie. Through the subsequent years, Okada's work became more and more expansive, eventually arriving at pure distillations of color and gesture.
Object number55.200
Photo CreditPhoto: Paul Macapia
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Henry Art Gallery, "What It Meant to Be Modern: Seattle Art at Mid-Century", October 15, 1999 - January 23, 2000 Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Annual Exhibition of Northwest Artists, 41st Annual", 1955. (1955) Valparaiso, Indiana, Sloan Galleries, "Art of Northwest Coast", 1962. (1962 - 1962) La Conner, Washington, Museum of Northwest Art "Frank Okada: The Shape of Elegance" October 8, 2005 - January 8, 2006 Published ReferencesHenry Art Gallery "Younger Washington Artists" Seattle: Henry Art Gallery, 1963 Conkleton, Sheryl et al. "What it Meant to Be Modern: Seattle Art at Mid-Century." Seattle, WA: Henry Art Gallery, 2000, illus. p. 30 (b&w) Nakane, Kazuko "Frank Okada: The Shape of elegance" La Conner, WA: Museum of Northwest Art in association with Univeristy of Washington Press, Seattle and London, 2005. Exh. cat. of an exhibition held at the Museum of Northwest Art, Oct. 8, 2005 - Jan. 8, 2006. pp. 16 Sloan Galleries, Valparaiso, Indiana, "Art of Northwest Coast", catalog, #17, 1962.
Credit LineEugene Fuller Memorial Collection
Dimensions24 3/4 x 43 1/4 in. (62.9 x 109.9 cm)
MediumOil on board
1966
Object number: 2009.52.3
Photo: Susan Dirk
Francis Picabia
1924
Object number: 61.188
Man with a Secret
1954
Object number: 58.57
Night Passage
1961
Object number: 64.66
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
1956-1957
Object number: 59.70
Sleeper
1965
Object number: 92.129
Orchard in Spring
20th century
Object number: 55.20