The is one of 10 university art museums nationwide chosen for inclusion in the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation鈥檚 2023 Frankenthaler Prints Initiative. The award includes a gift of selected original prints by the renowned artist and $25,000 to develop related educational programming.
, an innovative female artist of her time and an outspoken champion of arts education, is regarded as one of the most important American Abstract Expressionist painters and printmakers of the 20th century. She established and endowed the foundation to advance her legacy and inspire a new generation of practitioners through philanthropic, educational and research initiatives.
The University鈥檚 art museum is now one of just 20 academic art museums in the U.S. to receive the award, says Emily Dittman, the museum鈥檚 interim director. The museum will receive 10 published prints, a full set of process proofs for one of those prints and the funds to host a project or program for the study, presentation and interpretation of the artworks. This is the second time the grants have been given.
Frankenthaler Prints Initiative grantees are chosen based on the institution鈥檚 demonstrated commitment to making the prints a significant collection area and teaching tool, according to Elizabeth Smith, the foundation鈥檚 executive director.
鈥淭hese gifts advance the study of Frankenthaler鈥檚 work and invite new scholarly investigation about her printmaking practice. We are excited to see what fresh insights arise from the prints鈥 inclusion in curricula, curatorial programming and other new academic and artistic contexts at universities fostering the next generation of artists and scholars,鈥 Smith says.
One of Helen Frankenthaler’s abstract works housed at the 黑料不打烊 Art Museum.
鈥淭his grant is very exciting. It distinguishes our art museum as a top-level institution in the country and adds prominent recognition for the strategic work at the museum to build its large and impressive print collections that are used by our University community for interdisciplinary research and projects,鈥 Dittman says.
Melissa Yuen, interim chief curator of SUArt Museum, says the University is extremely fortunate to receive the materials. 鈥淔rankenthaler is world-renowned as one of the most prominent American artists of the second half of the 20th century. She came of age when printmaking took off after World War II, then expanded her techniques to push the envelope artistically. She used traditional methods such as lithography, screen printing and woodblock, but added the use of diverse objects such as chainsaws and dental tools in the printmaking process to really upend how prints are made,鈥 says Yuen.
Andrew Saluti, assistant professor and program coordinator of museum studies in the School of Design in聽the College of Visual and Performing Arts, who with Dittman contacted the foundation upon initially hearing of the initiative, believes the award 鈥渋s a validation of many years of advocacy for the museum and the extensive print collection that鈥檚 been built over the last 50 years. It will act as a conduit for research that crosses archive and art within the University鈥檚 holdings.鈥
The 10 museums selected as a part of the second cohort have few, if any, Frankenthaler prints in their collections. The art museum鈥檚 collection currently includes three Frankenthaler works: a painting gifted by alumnus Clement Greenberg 鈥30 and two screen prints. 黑料不打烊 Libraries鈥 also maintains the Grace Hartigan papers, which contain correspondence and connections to Frankenthaler. Hartigan was an American Abstract Expressionist painter.
Selections of work going to each museum have yet to be determined. While waiting for the materials to arrive, museum staff members are developing ideas for educational programming and activities about the artist, her processes and her legacy in American art. They plan to involve students and faculty from programs across the University, including museum studies, art history, art education, studio arts, women鈥檚 and gender studies, language arts, architecture and anthropology. They also plan to explore ways to engage with the greater Central New York community, including activities for K-12 students and youth outreach efforts, to broaden the gift鈥檚 impact.
