It is with great pleasure that the Greg Kucera Gallery offers a selection of works from the inventory of Francine Seders Gallery. All of the revenue from these sales goes directly to Francine's business. Though Francine officially closed her gallery December 24, 2013, she will continue to work as an art dealer on a private basis.
On this occasion, I want to express how meaningful Francine, and her gallery, have been to me personally over the 40 years I have known her.
I began to visit the Francine Seders Gallery when I was a junior in high school in 1973. At the suggestion of my art teacher, and just as soon as I could drive, I began to visit Seattle's art galleries, mostly in Pioneer Square. I quickly learned that her gallery was among the best in Seattle and worth the drive to 67th and Greenwood, near Woodland Park Zoo.
One never entered her door without a friendly greeting, often from Francine herself. The pleasure of visiting there was in that kind of personal touch and also the chance to view some of Seattle's finest artists. She was generous with information about the artists and her encouragement to collect their work.
The first works of art I bought from her were probably a Joseph Goldberg and a Gaylen Hansen from the resale exhibition she did of Victor Policar's collection in the late 1970s. Over many years, her good advice helped me purchase works by Michael Dailey, Jacob Lawrence, Fay Jones, Ikune Sawada, and others. She helped me by arranging for time payments on art work while I was in school using student loans and scholarships to buy art.
Among her most prominent artists were some of the art professors I took courses from at the University of Washington School of Art, including Michael Dailey, Robert Jones, Norman Lundin and Jacob Lawrence.
When I graduated with my simple BA in Art in 1980, I had a first exhibition of my paintings at Foster White Gallery. My second---and last---exhibition was with Francine's gallery. In a very curious turn of events, my show with Francine opened on October 4, 1983, the very day after my own gallery opened at Second and James. My decision to open the gallery didn't happen until June of 1983 and Francine was ever gracious about the surprise.
As a gift at my opening, Francine gave me a rock from her collection that was polished on one side and rough on the other. It was a potent symbol of her cautionary support suggesting the easy, good times that would alternate with difficult times for business in the 1980s and 1990s to follow. I gave that rock to Scott Lawrimore when he opened Lawrimore Project and Scott passed it along to Steve Lyons at Platform a few years later.
Over our shared thirty years as colleagues, Francine has remained a good friend, a dependable ally and a constant source of good advice for me. It's now my pleasure to return her many favors and kindnesses by lending the space here at Greg Kucera Gallery to offer these works for sale on her behalf.
Over her nearly fifty years in business, Francine Seders acquired a number of works of art by direct purchase from artists or by exchange with clients and collectors. These works became inventory for her in a business that typically worked on consignment with artists. This exhibition of art works suggests only some of the many means by which Seders was helpful to the arts community here since the 1960s.
Greg Kucera
