The collecting activities of the Henry Art Gallery began in 1926 when Horace C. Henry offered 172 works of art and $97,000 to the University of Washington to construct the first public art museum in Seattle. The Henry’s fine art collections have grown through subsequent donations, notably with significant gifts of prints in the 1970s and the establishment of the Monsen Photography collection in 1979. The construction of the Reed Gallery in 1980, the antecedent of the present Reed Collection Study Center, allowed increased access to collections by students, professors, and outside scholars. Recent collecting activities have focused on acquiring works representing developments in contemporary art, particularly in the areas of photography, new media, and installation art. The Henry’s permanent collection includes over 24,000 objects.
The Henry Art Gallery collection also includes the extensive holdings of the University of Washington’s former Costume and Textile Study Center, transferred to the Henry Art Gallery in 1982. This unique regional resource focuses on design and process.
The Joseph and Elaine Monsen Collection of Photography
A growing collection of contemporary works on paper
The Horace C. Henry Collection of 19th century landscape paintings
The Stimson-Bullitt Collection of 19th century prints
The Elizabeth Bayley Willis and Robert Sperry Collection of Japanese folk pottery and West Coast ceramics
The Thomas and Frances Blakemore Collection of Japanese prints and ceramics
The William and Ruth True Collection of contemporary art