graphs, a technique also being explored by Andy
Warhol. Some of the silk screens were made from
photographs he took himself; some were images
not of people or objects but historical events,
allowing Rauschenberg to compress fragments of
documentary into his work. At age 37, Rauschen-
berg became the first American to be awarded the
grand prize in painting at the Venice Biennale in
June of 1964. The triumph was of the incongruous
over the representational, the contradictory over
the descriptive. Rauschenberg’s work not only de-
fies literal translation, but to attempt a merely
meaningful interpretation is to become ensnared
in its paradox. As described by Time art critic
Robert Hughes, his work is the art of free associa-
tion, as open ended and complex as the mind itself.
It demands that the mind of the viewer be the same.
He founded an organization called Experiments
in Art and Technology (E.A.T.) in 1966 whose
purpose, he has said, was ‘‘to function as a cata-
lyst for the inevitable fusing of specializations
creating a responsible man working in the pre-
sent.’’ His painting became uneven in the 70s as
he continued to broaden his scope. But as his ear-
lier work championed disassociation—the discon-
nection of neighbors, made inherent by virtue of
their creator-designated proximity—and his later
work flaunts incompatibility and alienation. In the
1980s, as he hired more assistants to help achieve his
goals, his work takes on an unintended irony, es-
pecially when compared with early work prized for
its individuality. Quoted in an early interview,
Rauschenberg spoke for all artists when he said,
‘‘I can’t afford to lose touch with myself, because
that’s really all I’ve got.’’
Rauschenberg has also exhibited photographs as
such, which surprised many with their straightfor-
wardness. He first exhibited photographs in a 1980
small exhibition on Sanibel Island, Florida, near his
home on Captiva Island; the next year a survey of
his photographs was mounted at the Pompidou
Center, Paris.
RenataGoldenSeealso:Photogram; Photography and Painting
Biography
Born Milton Rauschenberg in Port Arthur, Texas, 22 Octo-
ber 1925. Attended the University of Texas, 1942; Kansas
City Art Institute, 1947–1948; Acade ́mie Julian, Paris,
1948; Art Students League, New York, 1950; Black
Mountain College, North Carolina, 1948–1949, 1952.
Received Grand Prix, Ljubljana, 1962; Grand Prix,
Venice Biennale, 1964; Gold Medal and William A.
Clark Prize, Corcoran Biennial, 1965. Living in New
York City and on Captiva Island, Florida.Selected Works
22 the Lily White, c. 1950
White Painting, 1951
Erased de Kooning Drawing, 1953
Red Interior, c. 1955
Bed, 1955
Levee, 1955
Satellite, 1955
Monogram, 1955–1959
Canyon, 1959
Winter Pool, 1959
Pilgrim, 1960
Pneumonia Lisa (Japanese Recreational Clayworks), 1982Robert Rauschenberg, Pull, Screen print on cheesecloth and
silk taffeta with paper bag collage, 1974.
[Victoria and Albert Museum, London/Art Resource, New
York; Photo#Robert Rauschenberg/Licensed by VAGA,
New York, New York]RAUSCHENBERG, ROBERT