60 Facts About Robert Rauschenberg

1.

Milton Ernest "Robert" Rauschenberg was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement.

2.

Robert Rauschenberg was both a painter and a sculptor, but he worked with photography, printmaking, papermaking and performance.

3.

Robert Rauschenberg received numerous awards during his nearly 60-year artistic career.

4.

Robert Rauschenberg lived and worked in New York City and on Captiva Island, Florida, until his death on May 12,2008.

5.

Robert Rauschenberg's father was of German and Cherokee ancestry and his mother of Dutch descent.

6.

Robert Rauschenberg's father worked for Gulf States Utilities, a light and power company.

7.

Robert Rauschenberg was drafted into the United States Navy in 1944.

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8.

Robert Rauschenberg subsequently studied at the Kansas City Art Institute and the Academie Julian in Paris, France, where he met fellow art student Susan Weil.

9.

In 1948 Robert Rauschenberg joined Weil in enrolling at Black Mountain College in North Carolina.

10.

At Black Mountain, Robert Rauschenberg sought out Josef Albers, a founder of the Bauhaus in Germany, whom he had read about in an August 1948 issue of Time magazine.

11.

Robert Rauschenberg hoped that Albers' rigorous teaching methods might curb his habitual sloppiness.

12.

Robert Rauschenberg became, in his own words, "Albers' dunce, the outstanding example of what he was not talking about".

13.

Cage provided Robert 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.

14.

From 1949 to 1952 Robert Rauschenberg studied with Vaclav Vytlacil and Morris Kantor at the Art Students League of New York, where he met fellow artists Knox Martin and Cy Twombly.

15.

Robert Rauschenberg married Susan Weil in the summer of 1950 at the Weil family home in Outer Island, Connecticut.

16.

Thereafter, Robert Rauschenberg had romantic relationships with fellow artists Cy Twombly and Jasper Johns, among others.

17.

Robert Rauschenberg purchased the Beach House, his first property on Captiva Island, on July 26,1968.

18.

Robert Rauschenberg died of heart failure on May 12,2008, on Captiva Island, Florida.

19.

Robert Rauschenberg's approach was sometimes called "Neo-Dadaist," a label he shared with the painter Jasper Johns.

20.

At Black Mountain College, Robert Rauschenberg experimented with a variety of artistic mediums including printmaking, drawing, photography, painting, sculpture, and theatre; his works often featured some combination of these.

21.

Robert Rauschenberg created his Night Blooming paintings at Black Mountain by pressing pebbles and gravel into black pigment on canvas.

22.

Robert Rauschenberg exhibited them at galleries in Rome and Florence.

23.

In 1961, Robert Rauschenberg explored a similar conceptual approach by presenting an idea as the artwork itself.

24.

Robert Rauschenberg was invited to participate in an exhibition at the Galerie Iris Clert in Paris, where artists were to present portraits of Clert, the gallery owner.

25.

Robert 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.

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26.

Robert Rauschenberg later explored his interest in technology while working with Bell Laboratories research scientist Billy Kluver.

27.

From 1970, Robert Rauschenberg worked from his home and studio in Captiva, Florida.

28.

Where his previous works had often highlighted urban imagery and materials, Robert Rauschenberg now favored the effect of natural fibers found in fabric and paper.

29.

Robert Rauschenberg printed on textiles using his solvent-transfer technique to make the Hoarfrost and Spread series; the latter featured large stretches of collaged fabric on wood panels.

30.

Robert Rauschenberg created his Jammer series using colorful fabrics inspired by his trip to Ahmedabad, India, a city famous for its textiles.

31.

In 1984, Robert Rauschenberg announced the start of his Robert Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange at the United Nations.

32.

Robert Rauschenberg took photographs in each location and made artworks inspired by the cultures he visited.

33.

Robert Rauschenberg often donated an artwork to a local cultural institution.

34.

In keeping with his commitment to the environment, Robert Rauschenberg used biodegradable dyes and pigments, and water rather than chemicals in the transfer process.

35.

In 1951 Robert Rauschenberg created his White Painting series in the tradition of monochromatic painting established by Kazimir Malevich, who reduced painting to its most essential qualities for an experience of aesthetic purity and infinity.

36.

Robert Rauschenberg used everyday white house paint and paint rollers to create smooth, unembellished surfaces which at first appear as blank canvas.

37.

Robert Rauschenberg applied matte and glossy black paint to textured grounds of newspaper on canvas, occasionally allowing the newspaper to remain visible.

38.

Robert Rauschenberg 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.

39.

The complex material surfaces of the Red Paintings were forerunners of Robert Rauschenberg's well-known Combine series.

40.

Robert 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.

41.

Robert Rauschenberg's comment concerning the gap between art and life provides the departure point for an understanding of his contributions as an artist.

42.

Robert Rauschenberg began exploring his interest in dance after moving to New York in the early 1950s.

43.

Robert Rauschenberg 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, often considered the first Happening.

44.

Robert Rauschenberg began designing sets, lighting, and costumes for Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor.

45.

Robert Rauschenberg was close friends with Cunningham-affiliated dancers including Carolyn Brown, Viola Farber, and Steve Paxton, all of whom featured in his choreographed works.

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46.

In 1966, Robert Rauschenberg created the Open Score performance for part of 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering at the 69th Regiment Armory, New York.

47.

Robert 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.

48.

In 1969 the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City commissioned Robert Rauschenberg to create a piece in honor of its centennial.

49.

Robert Rauschenberg 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.

50.

In 1986 Robert Rauschenberg was commissioned by BMW to paint a full size BMW 635 CSi for the sixth installment of the famed BMW Art Car Project.

51.

Robert 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.

52.

Robert Rauschenberg had his first solo exhibition at the Betty Parsons Gallery in spring 1951.

53.

In 1953, Eleanor Ward invited Robert Rauschenberg to participate in a joint exhibition with Cy Twombly at the Stable Gallery.

54.

Leo Castelli mounted a solo exhibition of Robert Rauschenberg's Combines in 1958.

55.

Robert Rauschenberg believed strongly in the power of art as a catalyst for social change.

56.

In 1986, Robert Rauschenberg received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

57.

Robert Rauschenberg was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Bill Clinton in 1993.

58.

In 2000, Robert Rauschenberg was honored with amfAR's Award of Excellence for Artistic Contributions to the Fight Against AIDS.

59.

Rauschenberg took up his fight for artist resale royalties after the taxi baron Robert Scull sold part of his collection of Abstract Expressionist and Pop art works for $2.2 million.

60.

Robert Rauschenberg's lobbying efforts were rewarded in 1976 when California governor Jerry Brown signed into law the California Resale Royalty Act of 1976.