

Did you know that Seattle’s first professional art gallery didn’t open until 1950?

It’s true! On November 12, 1950, Zoe Dusanne opened her home, specially designed to double as an art gallery, on Lakeview Place, overlooking Lake Union. She introduced modern art to the Pacific Northwest and introduced the world to Northwest artists. It was at Dusanne’s urging that Life magazine featured four artists she championed who would later belong to the “Northwest School” – Mark Tobey, Kenneth Callahan, Guy Anderson and Morris Graves. The house was torn down in 1958 to make room for Interstate 5. Dusanne died in 1972. •

Illustration by Regina Volpi Baerwalde for City Arts.