
Artistic Trailblazer Robert Rauschenberg Dies at 82
by
Josh Katz
Robert Rauschenberg, an artist famous for fusing seemingly disparate objects into a revolutionary expression of ideas, died on Monday in Florida.
30-Second Summary
Rauschenberg, who changed his name from Milton to Robert for aesthetic reasons, created his own genre of art in the 1950s called “combines,” changing the way many people thought about artistic expression.
In 1959, he constructed “Monogram,” one of the first pieces to win him acclaim. The creation consisted of a “stuffed angora goat, a tire, a police barrier, the heel of a shoe, a tennis ball, and paint,” according to PBS. The unique artistic style of the piece characterized Rauschenberg’s career.
Although many of the objects he placed together seemingly lacked a clear connection, a closer look would bring it all into focus, wrote John Richardson in a 1997 Vanity Fair feature on the artist.
Rauschenberg was born in Port Arthur, Texas, in 1925, growing up in a fundamentalist Christian household. He considered being a minister, but his love for dancing clashed with the church’s ban on the activity.
Rauschenberg was never much of an athlete or student, eventually learning that he was dyslexic. He was expelled from the University of Texas after freeing the frog he was supposed to dissect, and was resultantly drafted into the Navy during World War II. It was during his time as a sailor, drawing portraits of the other men, that he learned of his passion for art.
The National Gallery of Art writes, “The artist's welcoming of representation back into the avant-garde restored a potent visual vocabulary. As art historian Leo Steinberg noted, ‘What he invented above all was … a pictorial surface that let the world in again.’”
In 1959, he constructed “Monogram,” one of the first pieces to win him acclaim. The creation consisted of a “stuffed angora goat, a tire, a police barrier, the heel of a shoe, a tennis ball, and paint,” according to PBS. The unique artistic style of the piece characterized Rauschenberg’s career.
Although many of the objects he placed together seemingly lacked a clear connection, a closer look would bring it all into focus, wrote John Richardson in a 1997 Vanity Fair feature on the artist.
Rauschenberg was born in Port Arthur, Texas, in 1925, growing up in a fundamentalist Christian household. He considered being a minister, but his love for dancing clashed with the church’s ban on the activity.
Rauschenberg was never much of an athlete or student, eventually learning that he was dyslexic. He was expelled from the University of Texas after freeing the frog he was supposed to dissect, and was resultantly drafted into the Navy during World War II. It was during his time as a sailor, drawing portraits of the other men, that he learned of his passion for art.
The National Gallery of Art writes, “The artist's welcoming of representation back into the avant-garde restored a potent visual vocabulary. As art historian Leo Steinberg noted, ‘What he invented above all was … a pictorial surface that let the world in again.’”
Headline Link: ‘Pop Artist Robert Rauschenberg Dies in Fla. at 82’
Robert Rauschenberg “didn't mine popular culture wholesale as Andy Warhol did with Campbell's soup cans and Roy Lichtenstein did with comic books,” writes the Associated Press. “Instead, his ‘combines,’ incongruous combinations of three-dimensional objects and paint, shared pop's blurring of art and objects from modern life.”
Source: Associated Press
Background: Rauschenberg’s life and career
Rauschenberg wanted to become a minister and a pharmacist before he ultimately realized his artistic abilities in 1947. “Rauschenberg's enthusiasm for popular culture and his rejection of the angst and seriousness of the Abstract Expressionists led him to search for a new way of painting,” according to the PBS series “American Masters.” PBS also provides a short video clip on Rauschenberg and his combines.
Source: PBS
Art historian Leo Steinberg says of Rauschenberg, "What he invented above all was ... a pictorial surface that let the world in again." The National Gallery of Art exhibit presents and describes a number of Rauschenberg’s creations. The site allows viewers to zoom in, out and scroll through each of the different pieces on display.
Source: The National Gallery of Art
The Pompidou Centre in Paris describes Rauschenberg’s unique artistic style on its Web site accompanying the museum’s exhibition, “Robert Rauschenberg Combines.” There are photographs of some of the artwork.
Source: Pompidou Centre
Rauschenberg’s art is not simply a concoction of random objects as many have contended, says New York Magazine’s Mark Stevens in a 2005 review of the artist’s exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “As you draw closer to a Combine, its imagery begins to come into focus, and everything starts to connect and connect and connect,” writes Stevens.
Source: New York Magazine
Art historian John Richardson calls Rauschenberg’s achievements “epic,” in a Vanity Fair feature from 1997, when Rauschenberg’s art was displayed in the Guggenheim. When the feature was written, Rauschenberg lived a reclusive life on the island of Captiva, Florida, producing his art with a team of assistants.
Source: Vanity Fair
Reference: Fine Art Web Guide
FindingDulcinea’s Web Guide to Fine Art explores the history of art, directs art-lovers to museums and news, and describes how to buy and sell art online.
Source: findingDulcinea

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