Hispanic Heritage Month at SAM: Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Alfredo Arreguín

Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated annually between September 15 and October 15 in recognition of the contributions and influence of Hispanic and Latine Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States. At SAM, we’re continuing our efforts to expand the representation of Latine American artists in our collection to reflect the diversity of this community in our region.

One recent acquisition we’re especially excited about is Four Self-Portraits (1995) by acclaimed Pacific Northwest Chicano artist Alfredo Arreguín. Purchased in 2022 as part of the reinstallation of our American art galleries, the painting features a tapestry of interlaced tropical flowers, birds, leaves, arabesques, and ancient symbols that camouflage four distinct portraits of Alfredo—two at the top and two more, mirrored, at the bottom—literally merging the artist with the places and cultures of his ancestry.

Before his passing in May 2023 at the age of 88, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Alfredo in his studio to discuss his self-portrait and incredible artistic career as part of our interactive Living Labels series in American Art: The Stories We Carry. Featuring dynamic voices—including artists, scholars, and community leaders—responding to artworks on view, these videos deepen visitor engagement by presenting accessible, personal, and expressive alternatives to standard museum texts. While this experience was previously only available via touch screens in our galleries, we can’t think of a better time to share Alfredo’s Living Label with the greater public.

Today, Alfredo is remembered for his astonishing signature style: exuberant, mosaic-inflected, all-over compositions comprised of motifs derived from the rainforests and Indigenous cultures of Mexico, the compositions of Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige, and the nature and topography of the Pacific Northwest. Watch his Living Label above to learn more about Alfredo’s incredible life and career, and be sure to find his portrait in our galleries during your next visit to SAM.

– Lily Hansen, SAM Marketing Content Creator

Photos: Alborz Kamalizad & Chloe Collyer. Four Self-Portraits, 1995, Alfredo Arreguin, Oil on canvas, Painting: 49 3/8 x 42 3/8 in. (125.4 x 107.6 cm) Frame: 55 x 43 in. (139.7 x 109.2 cm), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Art Acquisition Fund, 2022.13 (c) Alfredo Arreguin.

Remembering Alfredo Arreguín

“Art is life. It is a vessel that allows me to express my perception of the world, my sense of beauty and my social concerns–which, I believe, are shared by many other persons around the world.”

– Alfredo Arreguín, in an interview with Artophilia

Everyone at the Seattle Art Museum was very saddened to learn of the recent passing of beloved Seattle painter Alfredo Arreguín at the age of 88. Acclaimed for his lavish, intricately patterned, and highly symbolic canvases, he was one of the Pacific Northwest’s most prominent Chicano artists. Last year, I had the pleasure of meeting Alfredo when the museum purchased his artwork, Four Self-Portraits (1995) for the collection. We were in the midst of checklist development for our major project to reimagine the museum’s American art galleries and were struck by the underrepresentation of Mexican American artists in the museum’s collection—particularly given the breadth of this community in our region. Jake Prendez, owner and co-director of Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery, a member of our Advisory Circle for American Art: The Stories We Carry, and a wonderful resource on Seattle’s Chicanx community and its artists, invited me to his gallery to view Alfredo’s work. I was hooked. One visit to the artist’s studio later, and we were on our way to acquiring the first of his paintings to enter SAM’s collection.

Alfredo was born in Morelia, Michoacán in 1935, and was encouraged by his grandparents (who raised him) to begin painting at a young age. When he was nine, he enrolled in the Morelia School of Fine Art, eventually moving on to the prestigious Escuela Nacional Preparatoria at the University of Mexico, from which he graduated in 1956. That same year, encouraged by a local family, he came to Seattle and obtained a permanent visa so that he could attend Edison Tech (now Seattle Central College) to study English, earn his US high school diploma, and enroll at the University of Washington to study architecture. When a condition of his visa made him eligible for the draft, he entered the army and was stationed in Korea and Japan. Upon his discharge in 1960, he returned to architectural studies, eventually transitioning to interior design and, finally, the School of Art. While there, he studied alongside celebrated artists Alden Mason, Michael Spafford, and, for a time, Elmer Bischoff. After receiving his MFA in 1969, he settled permanently in Seattle, becoming a force among artists and an integral member of the local Chicanx community.

Alfredo is celebrated for his astonishing signature style: exuberant, mosaic-inflected, all-over compositions comprised of motifs derived from the rainforests and Indigenous cultures of Mexico, the compositions of Hokusai and Hiroshige, and the nature and topography of the Pacific Northwest. His work is closely aligned with American Pattern Painting of the 1970s, yet it is also deeply personal and symbolic. A series of paintings of historical figures Emiliano Zapata and Frida Kahlo, for example, pay homage to activists whose interests resonate with his own, while a body of landscape paintings encode the flora, fauna, and natural beauty that inspire him. For him, painting was a form of therapy, a flow activity to which he returned every day.

Arreguín’s singular—even autobiographical—approach is nowhere more evident than in his large number of self-portraits, of which Four Self-Portraits is perhaps the most extreme and challenging example. A tapestry of tropical flowers, birds, leaves, arabesques, and ancient symbols interlace to camouflage four distinct portraits of Arreguín: two at the top and two more, mirrored, at the bottom—literally merging the artist with the places and cultures of his ancestry. Remembering Alfredo, I find myself seeing this engrossing painting afresh, grateful that SAM now shares in the legacy of this distinguished artist. Its acquisition will shape our collection strategy for years to come, as we amplify our efforts to bring in artworks—both historical and contemporary—by Chicanx and Latinx artists.

– Theresa Papanickolas, SAM Ann M. Barwick Curator of American Art

Photos: Alborz Kamalizad. Four Self-Portraits, 1995, Alfredo Arreguin, Oil on canvas, Painting: 49 3/8 x 42 3/8 in. (125.4 x 107.6 cm) Frame: 55 x 43 in. (139.7 x 109.2 cm), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Art Acquisition Fund, 2022.13 (c) Alfredo Arreguin.

Muse/News: Ikat Stories, Arreguín’s Legacy, and Smith’s America

SAM News

“A stunning visual experience”: Susan Kunimatsu reviews Ikat: A World of Compelling Cloth at the Seattle Art Museum for International Examiner. You’ve got one month left to see the exhibition before it closes Monday, May 29. 

“…Take the time to immerse yourself in the individual artworks and they will reveal their stories: how, why and by whom they were made.”

Local News

Seattle-based critic and memoirist Claire Dederer is interviewed in Esquire about her new book about what to do with problematic art.

Seattle’s Child lays out “14 fun and pretty spots for a family picnic in Seattle or the Eastside,” including our favorite: Volunteer Park, the stunning setting of the Seattle Asian Art Museum. 

Sad news via The Seattle Times’ Margo Vansynghel: “Influential Northwest artist Alfredo Arreguín dies at 88.”

“With his distinct blend of Pacific Northwest iconography, and Mexican and Asian influences, Arreguín became a key figure in Pacific Northwest art history and paved the way for a generation of artists of Latin American descent.”

Inter/National News

Ted Loos of The New York Times reports on the gift of art and funds made to museums and causes across the country by Jack Shear, the widower of the artist Ellsworth Kelly. The expansive gift honors the centenary of Kelly’s birth. SAM is among the recipients of $50,000, which will support the museum’s mission. 

“Making it happen was no picnic”: Emily Anthes for The New York Times on the American Museum of Natural History’s new exhibit of leafcutter ants (yes, there are pictures).

“Redefines what ‘American’ means”: The New York Times’ Jillian Steinhauer on Memory Map, the overdue retrospective of Jaune Quick-To-See Smith that just opened at the Whitney Museum of American Art and travels to SAM in 2024.

“But if the current wave of attention has opened up new possibilities for Indigenous artists, particularly younger ones, credit is due less to the institutions than to Smith and others of her generation for the tireless work they did to ‘break the buckskin ceiling,’ in her words. The Whitney retrospective makes that clear.”

And Finally

“The Harry Belafonte Speech That Changed My Life” by Charles M. Blow.

– Rachel Eggers, SAM Associate Director of Public Relations

Photo: Alborz Kamalizad.

Muse/News: Knockout at SAM, Arreguín’s Blends, and Oppenheim’s Transformations

SAM News

“In Seattle, it’s almost normal,” declares the New York Times headline on this story by David Laskin that takes the temperature of the city’s cultural scene. The Seattle Asian Art Museum and its journey to reopening (and reopening, again) kicks off the story, with reflections from curator FOONG Ping, whose exhibition Beyond the Mountain: Contemporary Chinese Artists on the Classical Forms is now on view.

In short, Seattle is back, but not all the way…But the city’s defining cultural institutions remain healthy, new restaurants and coffee places are popping up all over town, and the communities ringing the center are more vibrant than ever.”

“It’s a knockout show, with bold, tech-enhanced, multimedia works playing off traditional images and themes. And it’s also a fitting symbol of Seattle in the aftermath of the pandemic.”

Mark your calendar for September 23, says the Stranger, and we agree, because it’s the return of Legendary Children, the beautifully epic night celebrating the area’s house and ball community.

On Seattle Met’s regularly updated list of “things to do in Seattle”: Indigenous Matrix: Northwest Women Printmakers, curated by Kari Karsten and now on view at SAM.

Lonely Planet writes up “the 8 best museums in Seattle for a rainy day”; all three SAM locations get a mention, even the outdoor space of the Olympic Sculpture Park. You know what they say: no such things as bad weather, only bad clothing!

Local News

We were thrilled to bring programming like Summer at SAM and SAM Remix back to the Olympic Sculpture Park this year. Via Citystream, here’s a look at the return of another important community event, the Seafair Powwow at the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center.

Qina Liu for the Seattle Times on the opening of Loving Books, a Black-owned bookstore in the Central District, which curator Kristina Clark long envisioned as a “safe place where Black children could be Black children — where Black children could fully belong.”

Chloé Dye Sherpe for Art Access on Alfredo Arreguín’s solo show that’s now on view at the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner. SAM recently acquired its first work by the artist; it will go on view as part of American Art: The Stories We Carry in October. 

“Arreguín’s unique combination of complex, geometric patterns with portraiture and landscape elements blend to create for the viewer either a spiritual moment or opportunity for introspection.”

Inter/National News

Via Artnet: Get “ArtDrunk” with collector and influencer Gary Yeh as he takes in Frieze Seoul.

Eve M. Kahn for the New York Times on new design books on topics ranging from Olmsted trees, 1980s Miami architecture, and African textiles. 

Via Lauren Moya Ford for Hyperallergic: “It’s Time to Look at Meret Oppenheim Beyond the Teacup.”

“Oppenheim’s inventive, shape-shifting works are difficult to classify. Unexpected combinations of materials, like fungus, buttons, and dried pasta with wood, stone, and clay, speak to her sense of imagination and experimentation. Nature and transformation are at the core of many pieces, but her message to viewers is ultimately open ended.”

And Finally

Shane Hawkins on the drums.

– Rachel Eggers, SAM Associate Director of Public Relations

Photo: Alborz Kamalizad.

Muse/News: Park Life, All’s Fair, and Brave Change

SAM News

Seattle Met’s “Things to Do in Seattle” includes a recommendation for Summer at SAM at the Olympic Sculpture Park, noting that “live music, hands-on arts and crafts, and food truck meals define summer nights at the waterfront park.” Join us every Thursday night and Saturday morning for all the free fun

More news for the sculpture park: USA Today 10Best is out with their annual readers’ choice awards for the 2022 arts scene; we are happy to report we made the cut for their top ten best sculpture parks! To our fellow winners: our travel plans are set to check out the competition.

And don’t forget to make your way from the sculpture park to the Seattle Art Museum: Alberto Giacometti: Toward the Ultimate Figure is now on view! Artdaily shared the news about the exhibition that features the iconic explorations of the human form by the modern sculptor. 

Local News

Crosscut’s Brangien Davis is inspired by the James Webb Telescope images, Alfredo Arreguín’s paintings on view in La Conner, and even more cosmic art to see in town. 

The Stranger may no longer have their legendary print covers, but art director Corianton Hale is back thanks to their new web design, which includes an “artist of the week” to explore. Here’s his chat with Janet Politte, whose work is included in the Photographic Center Northwest’s thesis exhibition.

The (other) big Seattle art world news this week: The Seattle Art Fair takes place July 21–24 at the Lumen Field Event Center. The Seattle Times’ Jerald Pierce gives you a peek into the fair’s triumphant return under its new organizer, Art Market Productions. SAM is thrilled to be the fair’s beneficiary partner—drop by our booth to learn about the latest SAM and SAM Gallery happenings!

“Gallery owner Judith Rinehart knows that attending an art fair may fall outside of some people’s comfort zones, but she encourages folks to take that leap. ‘I think there’s this myth that you have to have a robust arts education to engage with artwork,’ Rinehart said. ‘You don’t.’”

Inter/National News

“Black Napoleon and smooching sailors”: Kabir Jhala for the Art Newspaper on American painter Amy Sherald’s first European solo show, now on view at Hauser & Wirth. 

“A Hidden Self-Portrait Has Been Discovered Beneath Van Gogh Painting”: Francesca Aton for ARTnews with another story showing how X-ray and other technologies continue to reveal art lessons. 

Christina Olsen, director of the University of Michigan Museum of Art, offers up this op-ed for Artnet on “five ways campus museums model a more courageous future” for the field as a whole.

“All museums need to look honestly at their own practices of exclusion and what enabled them, from governance structure, to hiring practices, to opaque decision making, and be up front about them so the entire field can begin to act as true cultural stewards and meet the broad call for change.”

And Finally

Graphic design is my passion.

– Rachel Eggers, SAM Associate Director of Public Relations

Image: Robert Wade.

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