ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG (1925- )
Robert Rauschenberg is one of the most influential American artists, having led the direction of contemporary art since his first showings in New York City in the early 1950's. After briefly attending the University of Texas to study pharmacology, and serving in the U.S. Navy during World War 11, Rauschenberg decided to study art. He attended the Kansas City Art Institute, the Academe Julian in Paris, and Black Mountain College in North Carolina. He moved to New York in 1949 where he attended the Art Students League. While painting and experimenting with blueprints during the early 1950's, Rauschenberg also designed display windows for department stores. His first one-man show at Betty Parsons Gallery took place in 1951. The artist's early works helped to open the tracts of pop art in 1953 when he began his famous 'combine paintings' that incorporated sculptural elements into his work. Bits of cloth, ladders, old radios, Coca-Cola bottles, stuffed birds, even a full-sized made-up bed: all elements found expression in his work.
In 1962 Rauschenberg made his first lithographs
and silkscreens, and has been involved with innovative print
making since then. His combinations of disparate images made
through photo-transfer, silkscreen, incorporation of found objects,
and painted forms resulted in striking juxtapositions. He has
experimented with disks, motors, Plexiglas, sound, and variations
in techniques in the transfer of photographs to silk-screened
editioned works of art. Rauschenberg has frequently noted the
great influence that making prints has had on his art. The interplay
of activity in different media is at the core of his work, which
has been marked throughout his career by a sense of experiment
and exploration. In 1998 the prestigious Solomon R. Guggenhiem
Museum had a mammoth retrospective of 400 art works by Robert
Rauschenberg. His artwork spiraled up all the main floors of
the museum and was touted as the largest retrospective to date
for any artist at the Guggenhiem.
Rauschenberg is considered by many to be
the master artist of his generation, and he is still at the cutting
edge. We are proud to present these works by such an important
and prominent artist.
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