Robert Rauschenberg

1925 - 2008

American (Port Arthur, Texas -)

Rauschenberg was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg was both a painter and a sculptor but he also worked with photography, printmaking, papermaking, and performance. He is well-known for his “Combines” of the 1950s, where he used the world as his palette. Any material was viable and he employed a wide array of materials and objects to construct paintings that blurred the lines between traditional definitions of painting and sculpture. Robert Rauschenberg grew up during the depression which instilled in him an appreciation for everyday materials. His interest in vernacular material and use of mass media appropriation led him to develop a mixed media and collage style. Rauschenberg served in WWII and after the war with the G.I. bill, attended the Kansas Art Institute and Black Mountain College where he would be introduced to John Cage and Merce Cunningham.