John Currin: Joan

Drawing inspiration from influences ranging from Renaissance oil paintings to 1950s pinup photography, John Currin’s unique style is evident in this print, a three-quarter portrait of a smirking woman—“Joan”—in a fur-collared coat.

Currin has continually explored the genre of female portraiture throughout his career. Characteristically, these women often appear as half-real, half-imagined, as though only part of the artist’s subject were held up to a distorting mirror, with the rest left intact.