Push & Pull: The Prints of Helen Frankenthaler and Her Contemporaries
Drawing on the UNM Art Museum’s permanent collection, Push & Pull: The Prints of Helen Frankenthaler and Her Contemporaries celebrates abstraction in all print processes. Featuring Modern and contemporary abstract prints and drawings, the exhibition focuses on the works of Helen Frankenthaler and Elaine de Kooning. Displayed alongside their contemporaries, this exhibition demonstrates important collaborations with American publishers such as Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE), Tyler Graphics Ltd., and Tamarind Institute.
Printmaking in the United States expanded in the Postwar period. From 1950 onward, the country witnessed the emergence of a model in which artists partnered with workshops to produce prints that relied on close collaboration. Their combined efforts opened avenues for experimentation in both the painter’s studio and the print studio, pushing each medium in exciting new directions.
The exhibition title, Push & Pull, references the compositional strategy developed by Hans Hofmann and used by abstract artists in this exhibition, the rhythm of the printer’s roller as it distributes ink on the slab and printing plate, and the symbiotic relationship between printmakers and painters who shared their expertise and sensibilities with one another.
Featured Artists
Elaine de Kooning
Richard Diebenkorn
Helen Frankenthaler
Sol Lewitt
Robert Motherwell
Jackson Pollock
Larry Rivers
Pat Steir
Above: Helen Frankenthaler: Late Works, 1988-2009 and Sol Lewitt: Not To Be Sold for More Than $100