Robert Rauschenberg

Overview
Robert Rauschenberg

Robert Rauschenberg was a post-war American artist who bridged the Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art movements in the United States. After serving in the US Navy in World War II, he studied art, first at the Kansas City Art Institute and later at the Académie Julian in Paris, Black Mountain College in North Carolina under Joseph Albers, and The Art Students League of New York. Towards the end of 1954, Rauschenberg struck up a friendship with Jasper Johns and began work on his seminal Combines, in which he combined aspects of painting and sculpture. This interplay of different media has remained central to Rauschenberg's work. Rauschenberg founded a number of philanthropic ventures including the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and Change, Inc., and he has contributed original work to the Rauschenberg Overseas Cultural Interchange and the United Nations. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and honours, including the 1964 Grand Prize at the Venice Biennale; the 1993 National Medal of Arts Award; and the 1996 Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award. He has exhibited worldwide, and his work can be found in the collections of some of the world's most renowned art institutions.

Biography
Robert Rauschenberg

1925
Born Milton Ernest Rauschenberg in Port Arthur, Texas on October 22nd to Dora Carolina Matson and Ernest Rauschenberg.

1943
Attends University of Texas at Austin to study pharmacology.

1944
Drafted into US Navy, drawing portraits for GIs to send home. Proclaims he does not want to kill anyone and is assigned to be a neuropsychiatric technician. Decides to become an artist.

1946
Settles in Los Angeles working briefly as an illustrator for Westwood newspaper and as a packing clerk for Ballerina Bathing Suit factory where he meets Pat Pearman who convinces him he is a talented draftsman.

1947
Changes his name from Milton to Bob after considering the most common names he could think of. Goes to Kansas City Art Institute at night, working in the day to save money to study in Paris.

1948
Enrolls in Académie Julian in Paris on the GI Bill. Begins to paint passionately often dispensing with brushes and using his hands. Returns to US and enrols in Black Mountain College, Asheville, North Carolina where he is a student of Joseph Albers. At Black Mountain College meets composer John Cage and dancer choreographer Merce Cunningham for whom he has worked as a designer, manager and performer

1949
Moves to New York and enrols in The Art Students League of New York, New York.

1950
Marries Susan Weil. Approaches gallery owner Betty Parsons for a critique of his work. Parsons, who represents Pollock, Rothko and Newman, unexpectedly offers Rauschenberg a show in 1951.

1951
Included in a window display by Gene Moore who will provide critical economical support for several years. Meets Cy Twombly, Leo Castelli and John Cage. Birth of son, Christopher. Exhibits in the Ninth Street Show, a show of about 61 artists conceived by members of the Club, which consolidates the movement that comes to be known as the New York School.

1953
First exhibition in Europe at Galleria dell’Obelisco, Rome, where some of Rauschenberg’s boxes and hanging wall pieces are sold. Returns to New York and moves to downtown Manhattan in a formerly industrial building.

1961
Reputation grows in Europe after a popular show in Paris and a series of articles in various magazines and newspapers.

1964
Takes part in the XXXII Esposizione Biennale Internazionale d’Arte in Venice.

1965
Designs CORE poster marking the development of his direct political activism. Named the most important artist to have emerged Post World War II by a survey in Paris weekly newspaper, Arts.

1967
Begins working with print workshop, Gemini G.E.L, Los Angeles.

1970
Joins a group of artist who withdraw their work from the US Pavilion in the Venice Biennale in protest of the war. Participates in Art for Peace. Moves permanently to Captiva, Florida although keeps his gallery in New York. Creates the first Earth Day poster.

1971
Establishes Untitled Press, Inc., Florida.

1980
Rauschenberg and Gemini G.E.L settle a lawsuit brought against them by Morton Beebe, photographer of an image used in Pull. Receives commission from Rockefeller Center Development Corporation, New York.

1981
Named Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, Paris. Named Member of the Board of Directors, Association Internationale de Défense des Artistes – USA. Begins work on The ¼ Mile or 2 Furlong Piece, intended to be the longest piece of art in the world, using techniques employed throughout his career.

1984
Returns to Port Arthur, Texas, for the first time in forty years. Mayor Bernis Sadler declares February 4th ‘Robert Rauschenberg Day’. Receives Grammy Award for Best Album Package for limited edition Talking Heads’s Speaking Tongues. Awarded Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts by New York University. Awarded the Jerusalem Prize for Arts and Letters. Visits Mexico in preparation for his ROCI (Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange) project. Receives Certificate of Appreciation from the UN Committee against Apartheid. Announces ROCI project in New York.

1986
Begins to use metal and industrial materials more frequently in his work. Receives Award for Excellence in International Cultural Interchange from the World Print Council.

1988
Travels to USSR to meet Minister of Culture in preparation for ROCI project.

1989
Cancels ROCI Berlin due to frustration with East German officials’ resistance to a simultaneaous East Berlin-West Berlin installation. After dismantling of Berlin Wall, Wolfgang Polak, director of the Zentrum für Kunstausstellungen der Deutsche Demokratische Republik immediately contacts Rauschenberg to reinstate arrangements for ROCI Berlin.

1990
The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation is founded.

1991
Inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, Tallahassee. The final ROCI exhibition, ROCI USA. Awarded 1991 Medal of Merit by the Lotus Club, New York.

1992
Named Commandant de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communcation, Paris.

1995
The first retrospective donated solely to Rauschenberg’s sculptures at Fort Worth Museum, Texas. Receives Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts.

1997
Awarded First Prize in Contemporary Art, ARCO International Contemporary Art Fair, Madrid

1999
Presented Butler Medal for Life Achievement in the Arts as a surprise by the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio

2002
Suffers a stroke that leaves his right arm partially paralysed. He is able to continue to work with his left arm and the help of his assistants.

2004
Recieves the first the Angels of the Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement, Lee County Alliance for the Arts, Fort Myers, Florida
Elected as an Honorary Royal Academician, Royal Academy of the Arts, London

2008
Died in Captivia, Florida.

Bibliography
Robert Rauschenberg

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

1951
Betty Parsons Gallery, New York

1963
Galerie Sonnabend, Paris
The Jewish Museum, New York

1976
Robert Rauschenberg, Museum of Modern Art, New York

1997
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

2000
'Synapsis Shuffle', Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

2002
Musée Maillol, Fondation Dina Vierny, Paris, France
Waddington Galleries, London, England

2003
'Short Stories', Pacewildenstein, New York, NY

2004
'Tribute 21', Centre des arts, Enghien-les-Bains
John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco
'Paintings, Screenprints & Lithographs', Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara, Italy

2005
Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London, England
'Robert Rauschenberg: on and off the wall', Musee d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain Nice, Nice, France
'Robert Rauschenberg - Combines', The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California
'Robert Rauschenberg', Miami Art Museum, Miami, Florida

2006
'Robert Rauschenberg', Centre Pompidou - Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris, France
'Art from Life: Prints by Robert Rauschenberg', Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, Stanford, California
'Focus Room. Robert Rauschenberg', Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
'Robert Rauschenberg: Scenarios and Short Stories', Jepson Center for the Arts, Savannah
'Rauschenberg: Prints', Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York

2007
'Rauschenberg. Express', Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain
'Robert Rauschenberg: Cardboards and Related Pieces', The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas
'Robert Rauschenberg: em viagem 70-76', Museu Serralves - Museu de Arte Contemporanea, Porto, Portugal
'Robert Rauschenberg', Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
'Three Decades', Faurschou, Bejing

2008
'Whatever is There is a Truth', Haggetry Museum of Art, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
'Robert Rauschenberg: Prints/Editions 1962-78', The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota
'Robert Rauschenberg in the Collection of the Long Beach Museum of Art', Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California
'Rauschenberg', University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa, Florida
'Robert Rauschenberg - Travelling '70 - '76', Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
'Robert Rauschenberg, grafica 1976-2000', La Caja Negra, Madrid, Spain

2009
ACE Gallery, Los Angeles, California
'Robert Rauschenberg: Gluts', Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy

2010
The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, Wisconsin
'Rauschenberg at Gemini', Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, California

2012
Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, MI

2013
'Jammers', Gagosian Gallery, Britannia Street, London, England
'Rauschenberg at Gemini', Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, California

2014
'Rauschenberg: China/America Mix', Bob Rauschenberg Gallery, Florida South Western State College, Ft. Myers, Florida
'Rauschenberg: Collecting and Connecting', Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC
'Robert Rauschenberg: The Fulton Street Studio, 1953-1954', Craig F. Starr Gallery, New York, NY

2015
'Gilt (1983) by Robert Rauschenberg', Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain
'Global Matters: Rauschenberg Print Media 1968-1975', University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Art History Gallery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
'Robert Rauschenberg', Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California

2016
'Robert Rauschenberg: Art and Life in Real Time', Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington
'Robert Rauschenberg', Tate Modern, London
'Rauschenberg in China', UCCA Beijing, China

2017
'Robert Rauschenberg: Autobiography', Museum of Art, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts
'Robert Rauschenberg: Among Friends', The Museum of Modern Art, New York
'Robert Rauschenberg: Posters', Museum Für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Germany

2018
'Robert Rauschenberg: Erasing the Rules', SFMOMA, San Francisco, California
'Rauschenberg: In and About L.A.', Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California

2019
'Robert Rauschenberg 1965-1980', Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
'Rauschenberg in Charleston', Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina
'Robert Rauschenberg: America Mix', Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida

2020
'Robert Rauschenberg: Five Decades from the Whitney's Collection', Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida
'Rauschenberg: Reflections and Ruminations', Museum of Outdoor Arts, Englewood, Colorado


SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

1959
The Corcoran Biennial, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
'Documenta' 2, Kassel

1960
'The Art of Assemblage', Museum of Modern Art, New York

1963
The Corcoran Biennial, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

1964
XXXII Esposizione Biennale Internazionale d'Arte, Venice
'Documenta' 3, Kassel

1968
'Dada, Surrealism and Their Heritage', Museum of Modern Art, New York
'Documenta' 4, Kassel

1977
'Documenta' 6, Kassel

2001
Colección Onnasch, MACBA, Barcelona, Spain
'Points of Departure I: Connecting with Contemporary Art', SFMOMA, San Francisco, California

2002
'Iconoclash: Beyond the Image Wars in Sciences, Religion and Art', SFMOMA, San Francisco, California
'Points of Departure II: Connecting with Contemporary Art', Pace/McGill Gallery, New York
'From Pop to Now: selections from the Sonnabend Collection, Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Heinecken', The Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery - Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York

2003
'A Way With Words', John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, California
'Heaven & Hell', Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York

2004
'Pop from San Francisco Collections', SFMOMA, San Francisco, California

2010
'50 Years at Pace: The Abstract Expressionist and Pop Art Years', Pace Gallery, New York

2011
'Crash: Homage to JG Ballard', Gagosian Gallery, Britannia Street, London, UK
'Burning, Bright: A Short History of the Light Bulb', Pace Gallery, New York

2012
'Mirages d'Orient, Grenades et Figues de Barbarie, Chasse-croise en Mediterrane', Collection Lambert, Avignon, France
'Lifelike', New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana
'Dancing around the Bride: Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Rauschenberg, and Duchamp', Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
'Cara Domani: Opera dalla Collezione Ernesto Esposito (Works from the Ernest Esposito Collection)', MAMbo-Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
'Shock of the News', National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
'Spectres of Artaud: Language and the Arts circa 1952', Museo Nacional Centro de Art Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
'The Last Days of Pompeii: Decadence, Apocalypse, Resurrection', The Getty Villa, Malibu, CA
'Art of Another Kind: International Abstraction and the Guggenheim, 1949-1960', Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
'Print/Out', Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
'Guggenheim Collection: The American Avant-Garde 1945-1980', Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy

2013
'The Bride and the Bachelors: Duchamp with Cage, Cunningham, Rauschenberg and Johns', Barbican Art Gallery, London, England
'The Sounds of Silence', UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Center, Berkeley, CA

2014
'Robert Rauschenberg and the "Five From Louisiana."', New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
'Rawing after Modernism, or how the future affects the past', The Drawing Biennial, National Gallery, Oslo, Norway
'The Avant-Garde Collection', Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA
'From Rauschenberg to Jeff Koons: The Ileana Sonnabend Collection', Ca'Pesaro, Venice, Italy
'Rothko to Richter: Mark-Making in Abstract Painting from the Collection of Preston H. Haskell', Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

2015
'America Is Hard to See', Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
'Selections from the Museum's Collection: Modern and Contemporary Art', Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
'International Pop', Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
'Fifty for Fifty: Gifts on the Occasion of LACMA's Anniversary', Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California
'Frontiers Reimagined: Art That Connects Us', Museo di Palazzo Grimani, Venice, Italy. Organized by Sundaram Tagore and Tagore

2016
'Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College 1933-1957', Hammer Museum, Westwood, California
'Breaking Ground: Printmaking in the US, 1940-1960', Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2017
'Begin To See: The Photographers of Black Mountain College', Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, Asheville, North Carolina
'The American Dream: Pop to the Present', The British Museum, London, UK
'Thirty Works for Thirty Years', The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas

2018
'Paper/Print: American Hand Papermaking, 1960s to Today', International Print Center, New York
'E.A.T. (Experiments in Art and Technology): Open-ended', National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
'Rauschenberg and Johns: The Blurring of Art and Life', Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona

2019
'Graphic Revolution: American Prints 1960 to Now', Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
'Prints I wish I had Published', Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London
'Bauhaus and America: Experiments in Light and Movement', Museum Für Kunst und Kultur, Munster, Germany
'Abstract Expressionism: A Social Revolution', Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida
'Al Norte de la Tormenta. From Robert Rauschenberg to Juan Muñoz', MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Arts, Rome, Italy
'Cut and Paste: 400 Years of Collage', Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, UK

2020
'Personal Space. Self-Portraits on Paper', Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
'For the Record: Artists on Vinyl', Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

 

SELECTED AWARDS

1964
International Grand Prize in Painting, 32nd Esposizione Biennale Internazionale d'Arte, Venice

1965
Special Medal of Award, American Institute of Graphic Arts
William A. Clarke Gold Medal for Axle (1964), 29th Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

1977
Mayor's Award of Honor for Arts and Culture, Commission for Cultural Affairs, New York

1980
Gold Medal, Biennial of Graphic Art, Fredrikstad, Norway

1983
Grammy Award, Best Album Package, Talking Heads' Speaking in Tongues

1984
National Academy of Recording Artists, Los Angeles

1986
Golden Plate Award, American Academy of Achievement, Washington, D.C.

1993
National Medal of Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, D.C.

1998
Praemium Imperiale for Painting, Japan Art Association, Tokyo

1999
Gold Medal for Painting, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York

2000
Honorary Royal Academician, Royal Academy of Arts, London

2005
Julio González International Prize, Conseil de la Generalitat Valenciana and Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, Spain
Honoree, Guggenheim International Gala, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York 

2009
Lifetime Achievement Award, Texas Medal of Arts

2010
Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Kansas City Art Institute
 

SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois
Guggenheim Museum, New York
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.
Menil Collection, Houston, Texas
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna
National Portrait Gallery - Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California
Tate Gallery, London
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne

Exhibitions
Publications