Print Study Picks: Pride!

By Lori Williamson

May 21, 2025—Welcome to Print Study Picks, a series of monthly dispatches from Mia’s Herschel V. Jones Print Study Room. Selections will complement recent exhibition openings, the changing seasons, and events, and may include an occasional random draw.

June is Pride Month, and we’re celebrating with a selection of works by LGBTQIA+ artists that (fittingly) repudiate assumptions, subvert norms, and exemplify creative invention.

Jasper Johns often chose quotidian objects—numbers, letters, flags, maps, targets—as subjects for his art. This approach allowed Johns to seek pure abstraction, eliminating any suggestion of narrative content and compelling the viewer to pay attention to material elements, like the surface, texture, shading, and color of his artworks. For Johns, the integral aspect of the work was the process itself. 

Ale Cans is based on an earlier piece by the artist, a cast bronze sculpture, which Johns called a “double portrait.” The lithograph shows two beer cans standing at attention. Though they look nearly identical, there are slight differences between them. The cans are not the same size, and only one is open at the top. Viewers might wonder who they represent. Perhaps Johns and fellow artist Robert Rauschenberg, their six-year-long relationship having ended three years prior? Johns would likely reject the question altogether.

Aptly titled, Robert Rauschenberg’s lithograph Accident resulted from a studio mishap. The limestone, the surface upon which the original image was made, broke during the proofing process. Rauschenberg printed the lithograph from these pieces of broken stone, incorporating gestural brushstrokes and appropriating photographic images into a semi-abstract assemblage.

Keeping with his usual working method, Rauschenberg welcomed serendipity and allowed unexpected meanings to emerge, creating an intriguing intersection of content and process.

Rosa Bonheur is considered the most famous female painter of 19th-century France. Her signature depictions of animals were celebrated for their vivacity and realism. Royalty at Home sets a lion and lioness against a rocky North African landscape, though Bonheur likely studied the animals in captivity in France.

Bonheur bucked convention at every turn. She achieved international fame over the course of her career, becoming the first woman admitted to the French Legion of Honor in 1865—cause for Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, to proclaim: “Genius has no sex.”

Bonheur was openly gay, making her path to success in a male-dominated profession that much more groundbreaking. She preferred to dress in men’s clothing, finding it easier to get around in as she studied and painted the many animals she so adored. 

And yes, a group of lions is also called a pride—bringing this month’s theme full circle!

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About Lori Williamson, Supervisor of the Herschel V. Jones Print Study Room at Mia

Lori Williamson creates mini-exhibitions and teaches classes and Print Study Room visitors about the museum’s rich collection of works on paper. She’s the primary caretaker for more than 40,000 prints, 6,000 drawings, and 600 artists’ books, collaborating with curators in American, European, and Global Contemporary Art to make these holdings accessible. Williamson supports scholars through research and inquiry, and advocates for the inclusion of works on paper in exhibitions, social media, and outreach, helping to connect diverse audiences with this dynamic collection.

Interested in seeing something in the Print Study Room? All are welcome by appointment. Email Lori Williamson and copy the Print Study Room to make an appointment.

Meet the other curators in the Department of European Art.