Rauschenberg, << ROW shuhn burg, >> Robert (1925-2008), was an American artist famous for experimenting with a variety of materials, techniques, and styles. His search for new forms of expression inspired many artists in the United States and other countries.
Milton Ernst Rauschenberg was born in Port Arthur, Texas, on Oct. 22, 1925. He studied art at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. He first attracted attention in the early 1950’s with all-white and all-black paintings. He then invented the combine, an assemblage with everyday objects, often joined with painted canvases. One combine called Bed (1955) consists of a real quilt, sheet, and pillow, all splattered with paint.
Starting in the early 1960’s, Rauschenberg experimented with printmaking techniques, often combining them with printing and drawing. He selected images from the media and ordinary objects from his environment and reproduced them through silk-screen printing. Rauschenberg’s works, in subject and technique, anticipate the Pop Art movement of the 1960’s (see Pop Art ). His random combinations of imagery illustrate the contradictions of modern life.
In 1966, Rauschenberg cofounded Experiments in Art and Technology (EAT), a project that advanced the incorporation of new interests, such as electric light and motion in art. From 1985 to 1991, he worked on the Rauschenberg Overseas Cultural Exchange. He visited 10 countries with the goal of promoting world peace through nonpolitical communication. In each country, he held an exhibition of his work, made videotapes, and collected objects and photographs to incorporate into new works of art. Rauschenberg died on May 12, 2008.
See also Painting (The revival of subject matter) .
