“Montana Bars” and “Lee Nye: Eddie's Club Adjunct Collection”

Two distinct but interrelated photographic exhibitions, “Lee Nye: Eddie’s Club Adjunct Collection” and “Montana Bars,” draw from MAM’s Collection and are augmented with select loans. The recently acquired, nearly complete set of the Eddie’s Club Adjunct Collection was photographed and printed by Lee Nye (1926-1999) for his personal collection. The majority of works were donated by Tracy Blakeslee, with the gaps in the series filled by donations from Nye’s widow, Jean Belangie-Nye. The collection of 32 portraits is the heart of a now-legendary cast of characters the patrons of Eddie’s Club in Missoula. The bar is known today as Charlie B’s, and more than 300 of Nye's original portraits still cover the walls.