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Milton Ernest "Robert" or "Bob" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combines (1954–1964), a group of artworks which incorporated everyday objects as art materials and which blurred the distinctions between painting and sculpture. Rauschenberg was primarily a painter and a sculptor, but he also worked with
photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...
,
printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proces ...
,
papermaking Papermaking is the manufacture of paper and cardboard, which are used widely for printing, writing, and packaging, among many other purposes. Today almost all paper is Pulp and paper industry, made using industrial machinery, while handmade pape ...
and performance. Rauschenberg received numerous awards during his nearly 60-year artistic career. Among the most prominent were the International Grand Prize in Painting at the 32nd
Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...
in 1964 and the
National Medal of Arts The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and Patronage, patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and ar ...
in 1993. Rauschenberg lived and worked in New York City and on
Captiva Island, Florida Captiva is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Lee County, Florida, United States. It is located on Captiva Island. As of the 2020 census, the population was 318, down from 583 at the 2010 census. It is part of the C ...
, until his death on May 12, 2008.


Life and career

Rauschenberg was born Milton Ernest Rauschenberg in
Port Arthur, Texas Port Arthur is a city in the state of Texas, United States of America, located east of metro Houston. Part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, the city lies primarily in Jefferson County, with a small extension in Orange County. ...
, the son of Dora Carolina (née Matson) and Ernest R. Rauschenberg. His father was of German and his mother of Dutch descent. Rauschenberg incorrectly claimed that his paternal grandmother Tina “Tiny” Jane Howard was Cherokee. His father worked for Gulf States Utilities, a light and power company. His parents were
Fundamentalist Christian Christian fundamentalism, also known as fundamental Christianity or fundamentalist Christianity, is a religious movement emphasizing biblical literalism. In its modern form, it began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British an ...
s. He had a younger sister named Janet Begneaud. At 18, Rauschenberg was admitted to the
University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...
where he began studying
pharmacology Pharmacology is the science of drugs and medications, including a substance's origin, composition, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, therapeutic use, and toxicology. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur betwee ...
, but he dropped out shortly after due to the difficulty of the coursework—not realizing at this point that he was
dyslexic Dyslexia (), previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, writ ...
—and because of his unwillingness to dissect a frog in biology class.Patricia Burstein (May 19, 1980)
In His Art and Life, Robert Rauschenberg Is a Man Who Steers His Own Daring Course
''
People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...
''.
He was drafted into the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
in 1944. Based in
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, he served as a neuropsychiatric technician in a Navy hospital until his discharge in 1945 or 1946. Rauschenberg subsequently studied at the
Kansas City Art Institute The Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) is a private art school in Kansas City, Missouri. The college was founded in 1885 and is an accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design and Higher Learning Commission. The institute ...
and the in Paris, France, where he met fellow art student
Susan Weil Susan Weil (born March 31, 1930) is an American artist best known for her experimental three-dimensional paintings, which combine figurative illustration with explorations of movement and space. Life and career Weil was born in New York City. ...
. At that time he also changed his name from Milton to Robert. In 1948 Rauschenberg joined Weil in enrolling at
Black Mountain College Black Mountain College was a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It was founded in 1933 by John Andrew Rice, Theodore Dreier, and several others. The coll ...
in
North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
. At Black Mountain, Rauschenberg sought out
Josef Albers Josef Albers ( , , ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born American artist and Visual arts education, educator who is considered one of the most influential 20th-century art teachers in the United States. Born in 1888 in Bottrop, Westp ...
, a founder of the
Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...
in
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, whom he had read about in an August 1948 issue of ''Time'' magazine. He hoped that Albers' rigorous teaching methods might curb his habitual sloppiness. Albers' preliminary design courses relied on strict discipline that did not allow for any "uninfluenced experimentation." Rauschenberg became, in his own words, "Albers' dunce, the outstanding example of what he was not talking about". Although Rauschenberg considered Albers his most important teacher, he found a more compatible sensibility in
John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...
, an established composer of avant-garde music. Like Rauschenberg, Cage had moved away from the teachings of his instructor,
Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...
, in favor of a more experimentalist approach to music. Cage provided Rauschenberg with much-needed support and encouragement during the early years of his career, and the two remained friends and artistic collaborators for decades to follow. From 1949 to 1952 Rauschenberg studied with
Vaclav Vytlacil Vaclav Vytlacil (November 1, 1892 – January 5, 1984) was an American artist and art instructor. He was among the earliest and most influential advocates of Hans Hofmann's teachings in the United States. Life Vaclav "Vyt" Vytlacil was born in N ...
and
Morris Kantor Morris Kantor () (1896–1974) was a Russian-born American painter based in the New York City area. Life Born in Minsk on April 15, 1896, Kantor was brought to the United States in 1906 at age 10, in order to join his father who had previously ...
at the
Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...
, where he met fellow artists
Knox Martin Knox Martin (February 12, 1923 – May 15, 2022) was an American painter, sculptor, and muralist. Born in Barranquilla, Colombia, he studied at the Art Students League of New York from 1946 until 1950. He was one of the leading members of the N ...
and
Cy Twombly Edwin Parker "Cy" Twombly Jr. (; April 25, 1928July 5, 2011) was an American Painting, painter, Sculpture, sculptor, and photographer. Twombly influenced artists such as Anselm Kiefer, Francesco Clemente, Julian Schnabel, and Jean-Michel Bas ...
. Rauschenberg married
Susan Weil Susan Weil (born March 31, 1930) is an American artist best known for her experimental three-dimensional paintings, which combine figurative illustration with explorations of movement and space. Life and career Weil was born in New York City. ...
in the summer of 1950 at the Weil family home in Outer Island,
Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
. Their only child, Christopher, was born July 16, 1951. The two separated in June 1952 and divorced in 1953. Thereafter, Rauschenberg had romantic relationships with fellow artists
Cy Twombly Edwin Parker "Cy" Twombly Jr. (; April 25, 1928July 5, 2011) was an American Painting, painter, Sculpture, sculptor, and photographer. Twombly influenced artists such as Anselm Kiefer, Francesco Clemente, Julian Schnabel, and Jean-Michel Bas ...
and
Jasper Johns Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, draftsman, and printmaker. Considered a central figure in the development of American postwar art, he has been variously associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and ...
, among others. His partner for the last 25 years of his life was artist Darryl Pottorf,Ella Nayor,"The Pine Island Eagle, "Bob Rauschenberg, art giant, dead at 82", May 13, 2008 his former assistant. In the 1970s he moved into
NoHo NoHo, short for "North of Houston Street, Houston Street" (as contrasted with SoHo), is a primarily residential neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded by Mercer Street (Manhattan), Mercer Street to the west, the Bowery ...
in Manhattan in New York City.Kenneth T. Jackson, Lisa Keller, Nancy Flood (2010)
''The Encyclopedia of New York City''
, Second Edition, Yale University Press.
Rauschenberg purchased the Beach House, his first property on Captiva Island, on July 26, 1968. However, the property did not become his permanent residence until the fall of 1970. Rauschenberg died of heart failure on May 12, 2008, on Captiva Island, Florida.


Artistic contribution

Rauschenberg's approach was sometimes called "Neo-Dadaist," a label he shared with the painter
Jasper Johns Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, draftsman, and printmaker. Considered a central figure in the development of American postwar art, he has been variously associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and ...
. Rauschenberg famously stated that "painting relates to both art and life," and he wanted to work "in the gap between the two."Rauschenberg, Robert; Miller, Dorothy C. (1959)
Sixteen Americans [exhibition
/nowiki>]. . New York: Museum of Modern Art. p. 58. . OCLC (identifier), OCLC 748990996. "Painting relates to both art and life. Neither can be made. (I try to act in that gap between the two.)"
Like many of his Dadaist predecessors, Rauschenberg questioned the distinction between art objects and everyday objects, and his use of readymade materials reprised the intellectual issues raised by Marcel Duchamp's ''Fountain (Duchamp), Fountain'' (1917). Duchamp's Dadaist influence can also be observed in
Jasper Johns Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, draftsman, and printmaker. Considered a central figure in the development of American postwar art, he has been variously associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and ...
' paintings of targets, numerals, and flags, which were familiar cultural symbols: "things the mind already knows." At
Black Mountain College Black Mountain College was a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It was founded in 1933 by John Andrew Rice, Theodore Dreier, and several others. The coll ...
, Rauschenberg experimented with a variety of artistic mediums including printmaking, drawing, photography, painting, sculpture, and theatre; his works often featured some combination of these. He created his ''Night Blooming'' paintings (1951) at Black Mountain by pressing pebbles and gravel into black pigment on canvas. In the very same year he made full body blueprints in collaboration with Susan Weil in his New York apartment, which "they hope to turn [...] into screen and wallpaper designs". From the fall of 1952 to the spring of 1953, Rauschenberg traveled in Italy and North Africa with his fellow artist and partner
Cy Twombly Edwin Parker "Cy" Twombly Jr. (; April 25, 1928July 5, 2011) was an American Painting, painter, Sculpture, sculptor, and photographer. Twombly influenced artists such as Anselm Kiefer, Francesco Clemente, Julian Schnabel, and Jean-Michel Bas ...
. There, he created collages and small sculptures, including the ''Scatole Personali'' and ''Feticci Personali'', out of found materials. He exhibited them at galleries in Rome and Florence. To Rauschenberg's surprise, a number of the works sold; many that did not he threw into the river Arno, following the suggestion of an art critic who reviewed his show. Upon his return to New York City in 1953, Rauschenberg began creating sculpture with found materials from his Lower Manhattan neighborhood, such as scrap metal, wood, and twine. Throughout the 1950s, Rauschenberg supported himself by designing storefront window displays for Tiffany & Co. and Bonwit Teller, first with Susan Weil and later in partnership with Jasper Johns under the pseudonym Matson Jones. In a famously cited incident of 1953, Rauschenberg requested a drawing from the Abstract expressionism, Abstract Expressionist painter Willem de Kooning for the express purpose of erasing it as an artistic statement. This conceptual work, titled ''Erased de Kooning Drawing,'' was executed with the elder artist's consent. In 1961, Rauschenberg explored a similar conceptual approach by presenting an idea as the artwork itself. He was invited to participate in an exhibition at the Galerie Iris Clert in Paris, where artists were to present portraits of Iris Clert, Clert, the gallery owner. Rauschenberg's submission consisted of a telegram declaring "This is a portrait of Iris Clert if I say so." By 1962, Rauschenberg's paintings were beginning to incorporate not only found objects but found images as well. After a visit to Andy Warhol's studio that year, Rauschenberg began using a Screen printing, silkscreen process, usually reserved for commercial means of reproduction, to transfer photographs to canvas. The silkscreen paintings made between 1962 and 1964 led critics to identify Rauschenberg's work with Pop art. Rauschenberg had experimented with technology in his artworks since the making of his early Combines in the mid-1950s, where he sometimes used working radios, clocks, and electric fans as sculptural materials. He later explored his interest in technology while working with Bell Laboratories research scientist Billy Klüver. Together they realized some of Rauschenberg's most ambitious technology-based experiments, such as ''Soundings'' (1968), a light installation which responded to ambient sound. In 1966, Klüver and Rauschenberg officially launched Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), a non-profit organization established to promote collaborations between artists and engineers. In 1969, NASA invited Rauschenberg to witness the launch of Apollo 11. In response to this landmark event, Rauschenberg created his ''Stoned Moon Series'' of lithographs. This involved combining diagrams and other images from NASA's archives with his own drawings and handwritten text. From 1970, Rauschenberg worked from his home and studio in Captiva, Florida. The first works he created in his new studio were ''Cardboards'' (1971–72) and ''Early Egyptians'' (1973–74), for which he relied on locally sourced materials such as cardboard and sand. Where his previous works had often highlighted urban imagery and materials, Rauschenberg now favored the effect of natural fibers found in fabric and paper. He printed on textiles using his solvent-transfer technique to make the ''Hoarfrost'' (1974–76) and ''Spread'' (1975–82) series; the latter featured large stretches of collaged fabric on wood panels. Rauschenberg created his ''Jammer'' (1975–76) series using colorful fabrics inspired by his trip to Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad, India, a city famous for its textiles. The imageless simplicity of the Jammer series is a striking contrast with the image-filled Hoarfrosts and the grittiness of his earliest works made in New York City. International travel became a central part of Rauschenberg's artistic process after 1975. In 1984, Rauschenberg announced the start of his Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange (ROCI) at the United Nations. Almost entirely funded by the artist, the ROCI project consisted of a seven-year tour to ten countries around the world. Rauschenberg took photographs in each location and made artworks inspired by the cultures he visited. The resulting works were displayed in a local exhibition in each country. Rauschenberg often donated an artwork to a local cultural institution. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Rauschenberg focused on silkscreening imagery onto a variety of differently treated metals, such as steel and mirrored aluminum. He created many series of so-called "metal paintings," including: ''Borealis'' (1988–92), ''Urban Bourbons'' (1988–1996), ''Phantoms'' (1991), and ''Night Shades'' (1991). In addition, throughout the 1990s, Rauschenberg continued to utilize new materials while still working with more rudimentary techniques. As part of his engagement with the latest technological innovations, in his late painting series he transferred digital inkjet photographic images to a variety of painting supports. For his ''Arcadian Retreats'' (1996) he transferred imagery to wet fresco. His ''Love Hotel [Anagram (A Pun)]'' from 1998, and made out of vegetable dye transfer on polylaminate, is included in the permanent collection of the Pérez Art Museum Miami, in Florida, the artist's home state for nearly forty years. In keeping with his commitment to the environment, Rauschenberg used biodegradable dyes and pigments, and water rather than chemicals in the transfer process.Robert Rauschenberg
Guggenheim Collection.


The ''White Paintings'', black paintings, and ''Red Paintings''

In 1951 Rauschenberg created his ''White Painting'' series in the tradition of Monochrome painting, monochromatic painting established by Kazimir Malevich, who reduced painting to its most essential qualities for an experience of aesthetic purity and infinity. The ''White Paintings'' were shown at Eleanor Ward's Stable Gallery in New York in fall 1953. Rauschenberg used everyday white house paint and paint rollers to create smooth, unembellished surfaces which at first appear as blank canvas. Instead of perceiving them to be without content, however,
John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...
described the ''White Paintings'' as "airports for the lights, shadows and particles"; surfaces which reflected delicate atmospheric changes in the room. Rauschenberg himself said that they were affected by ambient conditions, "so you could almost tell how many people are in the room." Like the ''White Paintings'', the black paintings of 1951–1953 were executed on multiple panels and were predominantly single color works. Rauschenberg applied matte and glossy black paint to textured grounds of newspaper on canvas, occasionally allowing the newspaper to remain visible. By 1953 Rauschenberg had moved from the ''White Painting'' and black painting series to the heightened expressionism of his ''Red Painting'' series. He regarded red as "the most difficult color" with which to paint, and accepted the challenge by dripping, pasting, and squeezing layers of red pigment directly onto canvas grounds that included patterned fabric, newspaper, wood, and nails. The complex material surfaces of the ''Red Paintings'' were forerunners of Rauschenberg's well-known Combine series (1954-1964).


Combines

Rauschenberg collected discarded objects on the streets of New York City and brought them back to his studio where he integrated them into his work. He claimed he "wanted something other than what I could make myself and I wanted to use the surprise and the collectiveness and the generosity of finding surprises. [...] So the object itself was changed by its context and therefore it became a new thing." Rauschenberg's comment concerning the gap between art and life provides the departure point for an understanding of his contributions as an artist. He saw the potential beauty in almost anything; he once said, "I really feel sorry for people who think things like soap dishes or mirrors or Coke bottles are ugly, because they're surrounded by things like that all day long, and it must make them miserable." His Combine painting, Combine series endowed everyday objects with a new significance by bringing them into the context of fine art alongside traditional painting materials. The Combines eliminated the boundaries between art and sculpture so that both were present in a single work of art. While "Combines" technically refers to Rauschenberg's work from 1954 to 1964, Rauschenberg continued to utilize everyday objects such as clothing, newspaper, urban debris, and cardboard throughout his artistic career. His transitional pieces that led to the creation of Combines were ''Charlene'' (1954) and ''Collection'' (1954/1955), where he collaged objects such as scarves, electric light bulbs, mirrors, and comic strips. Although Rauschenberg had implemented newspapers and patterned textiles in his black paintings and ''Red Paintings'', in the Combines he gave everyday objects a prominence equal to that of traditional painting materials. Considered one of the first of the Combines, ''Bed'' (1955) was created by smearing red paint across a well-worn quilt, sheet, and pillow. The work was hung vertically on the wall like a traditional painting. Because of the intimate connections of the materials to the artist's own life, ''Bed'' is often considered to be a self-portrait and a direct imprint of Rauschenberg's interior consciousness. Some critics suggested the work could be read as a symbol for violence and rape, but Rauschenberg described Bed as "one of the friendliest pictures I've ever painted."Tomkins, Calvin (February 29, 1964). "Profiles: Moving Out". The New Yorker 40, no. 2. p. 64. Among his most famous Combines are those that incorporate taxidermied animals, such as Monogram (artwork), ''Monogram'' (1955–1959) which includes a stuffed angora goat, and Canyon (Rauschenberg), ''Canyon'' (1959), which features a stuffed golden eagle. Although the eagle was salvaged from the trash, Canyon drew government ire due to the 1940 Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Critics originally viewed the Combines in terms of their formal qualities: color, texture, and composition. The formalist view of the 1960s was later refuted by critic Leo Steinberg, who said that each Combine was "a receptor surface on which objects are scattered, on which data is entered." According to Steinberg, the horizontality of what he called Rauschenberg's "flatbed picture plane" had replaced the traditional verticality of painting, and subsequently allowed for the uniquely material-bound surfaces of Rauschenberg's work.


Performance and dance

Rauschenberg began exploring his interest in dance after moving to New York in the early 1950s. He was first exposed to avant-garde dance and performance art at Black Mountain College, where he participated in John Cage's ''Theatre Piece No. 1'' (1952), often considered the first Happening. He began designing sets, lighting, and costumes for Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor (choreographer), Paul Taylor. In the early 1960s he was involved in the radical dance-theater experiments at Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village, and he choreographed his first performance, ''Pelican'' (1963), for the Judson Dance Theater in May 1963. Rauschenberg was close friends with Cunningham-affiliated dancers including Carolyn Brown (choreographer), Carolyn Brown, Viola Farber, and Steve Paxton, all of whom featured in his choreographed works. Rauschenberg's full-time connection to the Merce Cunningham Dance Company ended following its 1964 world tour. In 1966, Rauschenberg created the ''Open Score'' performance for part of ''9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering'' at the 69th Regiment Armory, New York. The series was instrumental in the formation of Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.). In 1977 Rauschenberg, Cunningham, and Cage reconnected as collaborators for the first time in thirteen years to create ''Travelogue'' (1977), for which Rauschenberg contributed the costume and set designs. Rauschenberg did not choreograph his own works after 1967, but he continued to collaborate with other choreographers, including Trisha Brown, for the remainder of his artistic career.


Commissions

Throughout his career, Rauschenberg designed numerous posters in support of causes that were important to him. In 1965, when ''Life (magazine), Life'' magazine commissioned him to visualize a modern Inferno, he did not hesitate to vent his rage at the Vietnam War and other contemporary sociopolitical issues, including racial violence, neo-Nazism, political assassinations, and ecological disaster. In 1969 the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City commissioned Rauschenberg to create a piece in honor of its centennial. He learned that the museum's original goals were detailed in a certificate from 1870 and created his 'Centennial Certificate' based on that object, with images of some of the best-known pieces in the museum and the signatures of the board at that time. Copies of the Centennial Certificate exist in numerous museums and private collections. On December 30, 1979, the ''Miami Herald'' printed 650,000 copies of ''Tropic (magazine), Tropic,'' its Sunday magazine, with a cover designed by Rauschenberg. In 1983, he won a Grammy Award for his album design of Talking Heads' album ''Speaking in Tongues (Talking Heads album), Speaking in Tongues''. In 1986 Rauschenberg was commissioned by BMW to paint a full size BMW E24, BMW 635 CSi for the sixth installment of the famed BMW Art Car Project. Rauschenberg's car was the first in the project to feature reproductions of works from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, as well as his own photographs. In 1998, the Holy See, Vatican commissioned a work by Rauschenberg in honor of the Jubilee in the Catholic Church, Jubilee year 2000 to be displayed in the Sanctuary of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, Padre Pio Liturgical Hall, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. Working around the theme of the Last Judgment, Last Judgement, Rauschenberg created ''The Happy Apocalypse'' (1999), a twenty-foot-long maquette. It was ultimately rejected by the Vatican on the grounds that Rauschenberg's depiction of God as a satellite dish was an inappropriate theological reference.


Works

File:Robert Rauschenberg exposeert in Stedelijk Museum, Bestanddeelnr 921-0999.jpg, Robert Rauschenberg with ''Estate'' (1963), in a photograph at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, February 1968


Exhibitions

Rauschenberg had his first solo exhibition at the Betty Parsons Gallery in spring 1951. In 1953, while in Italy, he was noted by Irene Brin and Gaspero del Corso and they organized his first European exhibition in their famous gallery in Rome. In 1953, Eleanor Ward invited Rauschenberg to participate in a joint exhibition with Cy Twombly at the Stable Gallery. In his second solo exhibition in New York at the Charles Egan Gallery in 1954, Rauschenberg presented his ''Red Paintings'' (1953–1953) and Combines (1954–1964). Leo Castelli mounted a solo exhibition of Rauschenberg's Combines in 1958. The only sale was an acquisition by Castelli himself of ''Bed'' (1955), now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Modern Art, New York. Rauschenberg's first career retrospective was organized by the Jewish Museum (New York), Jewish Museum, New York, in 1963. In 1964 he became one of the first American artists to win the International Grand Prize in Painting at the
Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...
(James McNeill Whistler, James Whistler and Mark Tobey had previously won painting prizes in 1895 and 1958 respectively). A mid-career retrospective was organized by the National Collection of Fine Arts (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum), Washington, D.C., and traveled throughout the United States between 1976 and 1978. In the 1990s a retrospective was held at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1997), which traveled to museums in Houston, Cologne, and Bilbao through 1999. An exhibition of Combines was presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2005; traveled to Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, and Moderna Museet, Stockholm, through 2007). Rauschenberg's first posthumous retrospective was mounted at Tate Modern (2016; traveled to Museum of Modern Art, New York, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art through 2017). Further exhibitions include: ''Robert Rauschenberg: Jammers,'' Gagosian Gallery, London (2013); ''Robert Rauschenberg: The Fulton Street Studio'', ''1953–54'', Craig F. Starr Associates (2014); ''A Visual Lexicon,'' Leo Castelli Gallery (2014); ''Robert Rauschenberg: Works on Metal'', Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills (2014); ''Rauschenberg in China'', UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2016); and ''Rauschenberg: The 1/4 Mile'' at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2018–2019).


Legacy

Rauschenberg believed strongly in the power of art as a catalyst for social change. The Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange (ROCI) began in 1984 as an effort to spark international dialogue and enhance cultural understanding through artistic expression. A ROCI exhibition went on view at the National Gallery of Art, D.C., in 1991, concluding a ten-country tour: Mexico, Chile, Venezuela, China, Tibet, Japan, Cuba, U.S.S.R., Germany, and Malaysia. In 1970, Rauschenberg created a program called Change, Inc., to award one-time emergency grants of up to $1,000 to visual artists based on financial need. In 1990, Rauschenberg created the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation (RRF) to promote awareness of the causes he cared about, such as world peace, the environment and humanitarian issues. In 1986, Rauschenberg received the Golden Plate Award of the Academy of Achievement, American Academy of Achievement. He was awarded the
National Medal of Arts The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and Patronage, patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and ar ...
by Bill Clinton, President Bill Clinton in 1993. In 2000, Rauschenberg was honored with amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, amfAR's Award of Excellence for Artistic Contributions to the Fight Against AIDS. RRF today owns many works by Rauschenberg from every period of his career. In 2011, the foundation presented ''The Private Collection of Robert Rauschenberg'' in collaboration with Gagosian Gallery, featuring selections from Rauschenberg's personal art collection. Proceeds from the exhibition helped fund the foundation's philanthropic activities. Also in 2011, the foundation launched its "Artist as Activist" project and invited artist Shepard Fairey to focus on an issue of his choice. The editioned work he made was sold to raise funds for the Coalition for the Homeless. RRF continues to support emerging artists and arts organizations with grants and philanthropic collaborations each year. The RRF has several residency programs that take place at the foundation's headquarters in New York and at the late artist's property in Captiva Island, Florida. In 2013, Dale Eisinger of Complex (magazine), ''Complex'' ranked ''Open Score'' (1966) seventh in his list of the all-time greatest performance art works. The Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at Florida Southwestern State College was renamed in 2004 (from The Gallery of Fine Art, founded 1979) in Rauschenberg's honor and with his blessing.


Art market

In 2010 ''Studio Painting'' (1960‑61), one of Rauschenberg's Combines originally estimated at $6 million to $9 million, was bought from the collection of Michael Crichton for $11 million at Christie's, New York. In 2019, Christie's sold the silkscreen painting ''Buffalo II'' (1964) for $88.8 million, shattering the artist's previous record.


Lobbying for artists' resale royalties

In the early 1970s, Rauschenberg lobbied U.S. Congress to pass a bill that would compensate artists when their work is resold on the secondary market. Rauschenberg took up his fight for artist resale royalties (droit de suite) after the taxi baron Robert Scull sold part of his collection of Abstract Expressionist and Pop art works for $2.2 million. Scull had originally purchased Rauschenberg's paintings ''Thaw'' (1958) and ''Double Feature'' (1959) for $900 and $2,500 respectively; roughly a decade later Scull sold the pieces for $85,000 and $90,000 in a 1973 auction at Sotheby's, Sotheby Parke Bernet in New York. Rauschenberg's lobbying efforts were rewarded in 1976 when California governor Jerry Brown signed into law the California Resale Royalty Act of 1976.Jori Finkel (February 6, 2014)
Jori Finkel: Lessons of California's droit de suite debacle
''The Art Newspaper''.
The artist continued to pursue nationwide resale royalties legislation following the California victory.


See also

* Combine painting


References


Further reading

*Busch, Julia M.
''A Decade of Sculpture: the New Media in the 1960s''
(The Art Alliance Press: Philadelphia
Associated University Presses
London, 1974) , . * Marika Herskovic
''New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists,''
(New York School Press, 2000.) . p. 8; p. 32; p. 38; p. 294–297. * Fugelso, Karl. "Robert Rauschenberg's ''Inferno'' Illuminations." In: ''Postmodern Medievalisms''. Ed. Richard Utz and Jesse G. Swan (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2004). pp. 47–66. *Sweeney, Louise M

The Christian Science Monitor, May 20, 1991.


External links


Robert Rauschenberg Foundation

Robert Rauschenberg: The Broad

Oral history interview with Robert Rauschenberg, 1965, Smithsonian Archives of American Art

Robert Rauschenberg: MoMA

Rauschenberg Research Project
at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, SFMOMA * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rauschenberg, Robert 1925 births 2008 deaths 20th-century American painters 20th-century American male artists 20th-century American printmakers 20th-century American sculptors 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists AIGA medalists Académie Julian alumni American male painters American male sculptors American members of the Churches of Christ American people who self-identify as being of Cherokee descent American people of German descent American pop artists Art Students League of New York alumni Artists from Texas Sculptors from Florida Sculptors from Texas Assemblage artists Bisexual male artists Bisexual painters Bisexual sculptors Black Mountain College alumni Experiments in Art and Technology collaborating artists Grammy Award winners Kansas City Art Institute alumni American bisexual men American bisexual artists American LGBTQ painters American LGBTQ sculptors LGBTQ people from Texas Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters People with dyslexia American artists with disabilities People from Port Arthur, Texas Recipients of the Praemium Imperiale United States National Medal of Arts recipients University of Texas at Austin alumni Honorary members of the Royal Academy Sculptors from New York (state) American album-cover and concert-poster artists American collage artists United States Navy personnel of World War II Recycled art artists United States Navy sailors Dadaists 20th-century American artists 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people