The University of New Mexico Art Museum (UNMAM) is honored to announce that it has received a major gift from the Lannan Foundation, based in Santa Fe, N.M. The gift consists of 43 artworks containing 60 individual objects and includes photographs, prints, paintings, drawings, ceramics and light projections. 

The gift includes work by 16 notable contemporary artists, including Subhankar Banerjee, Michael Berman, Erika Blumenfeld, Julián Cardona, Thomas Joshua Cooper, Kosso Eloul, Bill Gilbert, Evri Kwong, Jean-Luc Mylayne, Sebastião Salgado, Victoria Sambunaris, Pat Steir, Fernando Traverso, James Turrell, Emi Winter and Susan York. 

In 2022, the Lannan Foundation announced its plan to spend out and close by 2032. At that time, its remaining art collection of 1,600 works was gifted to more than 50 institutions, including UNMAM. Other institutions that received gifts include the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Academic museums that received gifts include the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona; Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College; and the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago. 

The University of New Mexico Art Museum’s relationship with the Lannan Foundation began in 1999, when UNMAM received 19 works through the foundation’s museum gift program. Created to broaden access to modern and contemporary art, the program aimed to expand exposure, accessibility and scholarship around artists in the foundation’s collection. 

“To be considered again by a foundation of the caliber of the Lannan Foundation is deeply meaningful,” said UNMAM Director Arif Khan. “Their decision to donate these artworks is a vote of confidence they have in the work we are doing here at UNMAM. It’s an honor to continue this relationship with an organization that has long supported arts and culture in New Mexico and throughout the world.” 

Creating Access to Works Beyond UNMAM’s Reach 

Mary Statzer, UNMAM Curator of Prints and Photographs, says the most recent gift boosts UNMAM collections in important ways. “This is very significant in terms of scale and importance,” she said. “The Lannan Foundation has supported artists with real breadth and depth over time, and now many of those artists’ works are here at UNMAM.” She adds that the gift creates access to works and artists that the museum would not otherwise be able to afford or provide. 

The artworks reflect UNMAM’s long-standing interests, particularly in contemporary photography, the landscape of the American West and artists connected to New Mexico. “This will go a long way toward building our collection. These are major pieces with scale and presence, and good presentations of these artists,” Statzer said. “I’m excited to activate the galleries with this new gift.” 

Gift Helped Shape ‘Collections Year’ Decision 

The scale of the Lannan gift helped shape UNMAM’s decision to launch Collections Year, pausing public exhibitions in 2025–2026 so staff can focus on collections care. Various donors, including the Lannan, offered gifts of approximately 200 artworks to UNMAM — all requiring cataloging, accessioning and housing despite the museum’s storage being at capacity. 

“This gift embodies everything that Collections Year is about,” says Andrea Perez-Martinez, UNMAM Collections Manager. “It’s really exciting, as we don’t normally get to work with some of these types of pieces.”  

Normally, condition reporting and cataloging fall to one person. But the scale and size of the Lannan works call for collaboration among UNMAM staff and Collections Apprentices. “We want to continue the stewardship the Lannan Foundation is so greatly known for,” Perez-Martinez notes. “They provided a platform for artists and were strong stewards of their collection. That this gift comes from them makes it even more special.” 

She adds that the gift is notable for its extensive documentation, such as provenance files, exhibition histories and correspondence that will guide how the museum understands and cares for each work. “Sometimes works arrive with stories and anecdotes that make them special, and here we have those stories preserved. It’s a privilege to work with that kind of transparency.”  

Carrying Forward a Legacy of Stewardship

For UNMAM, the Lannan gift is not only about the artwork itself and enabling UNMAM visitors to engage with important contemporary artists, but about furthering a legacy based on creating access, Khan notes.  

“The Lannan Foundation has a history of sustained engagement with the institutions they support, and this gift builds on their past contributions to our museum,” he says. “We are proud to be selected to serve as stewards of these works, ensuring that UNM students and the people of New Mexico can engage with them well into the future.”