UNMAM to feature ‘Push & Pull: The Prints of Helen Frankenthaler and Her Contemporaries’

The University of New Mexico Art Museum will host Push & Pull: The Prints of Helen Frankenthaler and Her Contemporaries starting with an opening on Jan. 31. The exhibition celebrates abstraction in all print processes.

The opening reception of Push & Pull is Friday, Jan. 31, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the UNM Art Museum. Further events and programs highlighting the collection will be announced.

Drawing on the UNM Art Museum's permanent collection, Push & Pull focuses on the works of Helen Frankenthaler and Elaine de Kooning. Displayed alongside prints by their contemporaries, the works in this exhibition demonstrate important collaborations with American publishers.

This exhibition was made possible through a gift of 20 prints by Helen Frankenthaler as part of Phase II of the Frankenthaler Prints Initiative. As an awardee, UNMAM also received a one-time grant from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation to develop a project or program for the study, presentation, and interpretation of the print editions and proofs. Grantees were selected based on demonstrated commitments to prints as significant collection areas and teaching tools.

Push & Pull was curated by UNMAM Curator of Prints & Photographs Mary Statzer and Curator of Collections & Study Room Initiatives Angel Jiang. In the spirit of supporting student education in the visual arts and art history, the exhibition also includes contributions from graduate and undergraduate students at UNM.

During the Fall 2024 semester, Jiang taught Abstraction on Paper: Curating Postwar American Prints and Drawings, a course offered through UNM's Department of Art. The course provided students an opportunity to work closely with the museum's permanent collection, gain knowledge of Postwar American art and contribute to Push and Pull. In addition to completing a final research paper, students participated in research and writing to support the exhibition. Their work will be included in the exhibition through extended labels and sound pieces.

UNM graduate student Hannah Cerne (M.A. in Art History and Museum Studies) has been a valuable addition to the curatorial team for Push & Pull. A graduate assistant and student employee at UNMAM since August 2023, Cerne collaborated with curators Statzer and Jiang this past summer as a curatorial assistant. In this role, she had the opportunity to view artworks in person, contributing to their selection for the exhibition. Reflecting on her experience, Cerne said, "Serving as a curatorial assistant was an insightful opportunity that provided me with crucial knowledge in exhibition organization and curatorial practices."

Currently, Cerne is developing the exhibition's gallery guide with support from museum staff.

"Creating a gallery guide is a new experience that I was eager to take on," said Cerne, "I knew the skills I gained from this project would serve me in the future." Through this project, she has strengthened her graphic design skills while also building project management skills, such as collaborating with a team, meeting deadlines, and adapting to changing project needs. The gallery guide, which illustrates the artists and print studios in the exhibition, will be available to visitors at the UNM Art Museum.

Featured artists and print studios

Push & Pull marks the first time that the gifts received from the Frankenthaler print Initiative will be on view at the UNM Art Museum.

In the Fall, UNMAM issued an open call for students to create works on paper - drawing, prints, and photographs - in response to Frankenthaler's prints for this exhibition. Interested applicants were invited to respond to Frankenthaler's use of color, philosophy, technique, or materials.

Three students were selected due to their high degree of artistic merit, originality, and meaningful engagement with Frankenthaler's work. Throughout the duration of the exhibition, Adrian Ricca Lucci (BFA student in painting and drawing), Brianna Tadeo (third-year MFA student in photography), and Yoma Wilson (second-year MFA student in printmaking) will have their artwork displayed alongside prints by Helen Frankenthaler.

In addition to works by Helen Frankenthaler, the exhibition also features prints and drawings by Elaine de Kooning, Richard Diebenkorn, Sol Lewitt, Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, Larry Rivers, and Pat Steir.

The exhibition acknowledges the symbiotic relationship between printmakers and painters who shared their expertise and sensibilities with one another. Their combined efforts opened avenues for experimentation in both the painter's studio and the print studio, pushing each medium in exciting new directions. Push & Pull celebrates the important role of print studios by featuring works published by 2RC Edizioni d'Arte, Chiron Press, Crown Point Press, Garner Tullis, Gemini G.E.L., I. Hollander Workshop, Multiples, Inc., Polígrafa Obra Gràfica, Tamarind Institute and Tamarind Workshop, Tyler Graphics Ltd., and Universal Limited Art Editions

Top image: Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011), Passeggiata Romana, 1973, Edition 18/32. Five color sugar-lift etching and aquatint on white Fabriano paper. 27 1/4 x 39 1/8 inches (69.2 x 99.4 cm). © 2025 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/2RC Editrice, Rome.

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