Mary Frank, an artist in her early 90s known for mythologically rooted sculpture and works on paper, is the subject of a focused exhibition at Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects in New York. Curated by Steven Harvey, the show presents 11 sculptures in wood, bronze, and ceramic from 1958 to 1985, alongside five works on paper, including a monotype and an oil-on-paper piece. Frank’s work, influenced by her study with Martha Graham, centers on self-sustaining female figures that embody agency, tenderness, and survival, often rendered in ceramic slabs or carved wood.
The exhibition matters because it highlights a significant yet underrecognized artist who charted an independent path from her male contemporaries, who favored fabrication over the handmade. Frank has never received a major New York museum retrospective, a gap the review attributes to long-standing prejudice against her aesthetic independence. The show serves as a corrective, celebrating her multi-genre practice and elemental, mythic vision at a time when such recognition is overdue.