Beatrice Mandelman (1912 – 1998) was an American abstract artist associated with the group known as the Taos Moderns. Mandelman was born in New Jersey to her Jewish immigrant parents and moved to Taos, New Mexico in 1944 with fellow artist and husband Louis Ribak. Mandelman’s work consisted of mainly paintings, prints and collages. Many of her pieces were highly abstracted, including representations of cityscapes, landscapes and still lifes. Through the 1940s, her paintings featured richly textured surfaces and a subtly modulated, often subdued color palette. The New Mexico landscape and culture influenced a brighter palette, more geometric forms and flatter surfaces. One critic wrote that the “twin poles” of her work were Cubism and Expressionism.
The Mandelman-Ribak Foundation was established to preserve the legacy of Beatrice Mandelman and Louis Ribak. Among other activities, it cataloged a half century of their work held in the Mandelman-Ribak Collection. In 2014, the collection and associated personal papers were donated to the University of New Mexico.