Facts about Robert Rauschenberg
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Rauschenberg's 1955 Automobile Tire Print created a 264-foot-long artwork by rolling a car tire covered in paint across a strip of paper during a collaborative performance with John Cage.
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After a 1969 traffic accident left him partially paralyzed, Rauschenberg adapted his studio practices and continued creating art for five more decades until his death in 2008.
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Rauschenberg's 1955 painting Odalisk stood nearly seven feet tall and incorporated a stuffed rooster, electric fan, and other found materials inside a wooden structure wrapped with fabric and paint.
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Rauschenberg's 1953 work White Painting with Seven Panels consisted of seven blank canvases that responded to environmental changes and shadows, predating minimalism by over a decade.
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Rauschenberg's 1951 erasure work Erased de Kooning Drawing consisted of a drawing by Willem de Kooning that Rauschenberg deliberately erased and then signed, questioning artistic authorship and value.
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Rauschenberg's 1961 painting Factum I and its nearly identical companion Factum II challenged the uniqueness of the original artwork by proving an artist could replicate abstract expressionist composition almost exactly.
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Rauschenberg received the Golden Lion award at the 1964 Venice Biennale, becoming the first American artist to win the prize since James Whistler in 1895.
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Rauschenberg's 1962 artwork Monogram featured a stuffed Angora goat with a tire around its middle, standing on a combined platform of paint, fabric, and found objects.
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The Museum of Modern Art in New York acquired Rauschenberg's White Painting series from 1951, three monochromatic canvases that challenged abstract expressionism's gestural dominance.
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Rauschenberg's 1964 silkscreen painting Retroactive I measures 96 by 84 inches and incorporates a photograph of President John F. Kennedy alongside abstract gestural marks.
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During the 1960s, Rauschenberg collaborated with dancer Merce Cunningham on over fifteen productions, revolutionizing modern dance through interdisciplinary artistic partnerships.
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In 1955, Robert Rauschenberg created Bed, a combine painting featuring an actual quilt and pillow mounted on canvas with abstract expressionist brushstrokes.