Robert Rauschenberg is dead at 82
Robert Rauschenberg, the irrepressibly prolific American artist who time and again reshaped art in the 20th century, died Monday night. He was 82. { NY Times | Continue reading }
 |
{ Robert Rauschenberg, Erased de Kooning Drawing, 1953 | traces of ink and crayon on paper | San Francisco MoMA }
Rauschenberg bought a pencil drawing by one of America’s leading artists, Willem de Kooning. He then erased the drawing, signed it himself and exhibited the artwork as his own. By this act of vandalism, Rauschenberg spat on the sacredness of an original artwork. Specifically, Erased De Kooning established a historical precedent that the destruction of an artwork is important aesthetically. { Art Renewal } previously { Ten Radical Moments in 20th Century Art } |
{ Robert Rauschenberg, Bed, 1955 | photo: MoMA, NYC }
Bed is one of Robert Rauschenberg’s first Combines, the artist’s term for his technique of attaching cast–off items, such as tires or old furniture, to a traditional support. In this case he framed a well–worn pillow, sheet, and quilt, scribbled on them with pencil, and splashed them with paint, in a style reminiscent of Abstract Expressionism. Legend has it that these bedclothes are Rauschenberg’s own.
May 13th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
It’s really sad to here about Robert, here. Are you sure about this bit?
I’ve seen documentaries, where de Kooning explained that Robert just asked for a drawing. de Kooning wanted to know, what for, and when he was told that Robert wanted to just erased it - he says something like “Here, let me give you a hard one then”.
Robert then kind of explains all the different erasures he had to use.
I know, it’s a little less scandalous, but the actual story of things usually is.
May 13th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Thanks for the correction. I should have double-checked…
found this:
The genesis of the project is well-documented: Rauschenberg went over to the master’s studio and said he’d like to erase one of his drawings as an act of art. De Kooning, apparently intrigued, had three groups of drawings. The first comprised those with which he was not satisfied - that wouldn’t work. The next was of drawings he liked, but which were all in pencil - too easy to erase. If de Kooning was going to participate in this neo-Dada performance, he would play his part. He looked in his third group and found a multi-media work on paper that would be quite difficult to eradicate (the media of Erased de Kooning Drawing are “traces of ink and crayon on paper”). It apparently took Rauschenberg one month to get the sheet relatively clear of marks. No photograph exists of the work he erased; we do have a photograph of the relatively simple sketch on the reverse, published here for the first time.
http://www.tate.org.uk/tateetc/issue8/erasuregenteel.htm
and:
May 13th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
I guess this is an Erased Rauschenberg.