This exhibition features prints that cannot be characterized as conventionally finished. Some are experimental working proofs, or prints struck from partially completed matrices so that artists could gauge the progress of their work. Others are so-called cancellation prints, or impressions taken from cancelled matrices, deliberately defaced by their artists. A relatively modern practice, matrix cancellation limits the size of a print’s edition (the number of impressions printed from a matrix); it also prevents unsanctioned printings from a matrix. Working proofs and cancellation prints have come to be valued by both collectors and museums as records of an artist’s entire process, and frequently as aesthetically pleasing objects in their own right. On view are prints by Jean-François Millet (1814–1875), James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), Glenn Ligon ’82, Hon. ’12 (b. 1960), and others. All works from the Davison Art Collection, Wesleyan University.

Curated by Miya Tokumitsu, Donald T. Fallati and Ruth E. Pachman Curator of the Davison Art Collection.

Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday from 12:30pm to 4:30pm.

This exhibition will be closed from Saturday, March 7 through Monday, March 23, 2026