Rauschenberg, Robert

Rauschenberg, Robert (rou'shunbûrg") [key], 1925–, American painter, b. Port Arthur, Tex. Rauschenberg studied with Josef Albers and in the late 1950s he came under the influence of Marcel Duchamp. With his friend Jasper Johns, Rauschenberg became a pivotal figure in the emerging pop art movement. His enormously inventive paintings, some of which incorporate silkscreen, include everyday images and objects and are executed in a loose, spontaneous style. He has also experimented extensively with assemblage. Gloria (1956; Cleveland Mus. of Art), Summer Rental III (1960; Whitney Mus., New York City), and the famous Monogram (1959; Moderna Museet, Stockholm), which incorporates a whole stuffed angora goat encircled by an automobile tire, are characteristic of the three-dimensional collages, known as “combines,” which he created from 1954 to 1964. Major works of the 1980s and 90s are mainly large constructions. While Rauschenberg initiated the use of photographs in the 1950s, photographic images are particularly prevalent in his later works, as in the massive “Scenarios” paintings of the early 2000s, which also make use of computers and digital printers. One of contemporary American art's most prolific and influential figures, he has also collaborated with artists in other fields, such as composer John Cage and choreographers Merce Cunningham and Trisha Brown.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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