Robert Rauschenberg - by Leah Dickerman & Achim Borchardt-Hume (Hardcover)

About the Book

Published in conjunction with the exhibition Robert Rauschenberg, at Tate Modern, London (December 1, 2016-April 2, 2017), The Museum of Modern Art, New York (May 21-September 4, 2017), and the San Fancisco Museum of Modern Art (November 4, 2017-March 25, 2018).

Book Synopsis

"Offering both a complete overview and fresh perspective of the momentous artist, nearly everything that Rauschenberg tackled in his career is included here, including his printmaking, photography, and famous silkscreen paintings." -Interview Magazine

The early 1950s, when Robert Rauschenberg launched his career, was the heyday of the heroic gestural painting of Abstract Expressionism. Rauschenberg challenged this tradition, inventing new intermedia forms of art making that shaped the decades to come. Published in conjunction with the inaugural 21st-century retrospective of this defining figure, this book offers fresh perspectives on Rauschenberg's widely celebrated Combines (1954-64) and silkscreen paintings (1962-64). It also illuminates lesser-known periods within Rauschenberg's career, including his work of the early 1950s and that from the late 1960s onward, now compelling and prescient to contemporary eyes.

Sixteen short essays by eminent scholars and emerging new writers focus on specific moments within Rauschenberg's career, examining his creative production across an extraordinary range of media. Integrating new scholarship, documentary imagery and archival materials, Robert Rauschenberg is the first comprehensive catalogue of the artist's career in 20 years, an important contribution to American cultural and intellectual history across disciplines and a necessary volume for anyone interested in art of the present day.

Over the span of six decades, Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) worked in an astonishing range of mediums including painting, sculpture, prints, photography and performance, and became one of the most transformative figures in postwar American culture. Working alone and in collaboration with artists, dancers, musicians and writers, Rauschenberg produced a vast body of work that continues to resonate today.

Review Quotes

...art as rich, perplexing and permission-giving to other artists as anything the 20th century offered.--Holland Cotter "The New York Times"

...impossibly rich and rewarding.--Adrian Searle "The Guardian"

Robert Rauschenberg considers the entire range of the artist's production, more so than previous catalogues have.--Christopher Lyon "Bookforum"

the forerunner of essentially every Postwar movement since Abstract Expressionism--Neene Mythos "Wide Walls"

Art, to him, for better and worse, was not just something you made. It was something you did.--Deborah Solomon "The New York Times"

It's impossible not to feel once again that we still need Rauschenberg with us, now more than ever.--Eliza Williams "Creative Review"

Offering both a complete overview and fresh perspective of the momentous artist, nearly everything that Rauschenberg tackled in his career is included here, including his printmaking, photography, and famous silkscreen paintings. His extraordinary artistic range will keep him in the forefront of modern art for years to come, and this book is a fitting artifact to document his legacy.--Devon Ivie "Interview"

Rauschenberg was a harbinger of the 21st-century artist--Ben Luke "The Art Newspaper"

Reaffirms [Rauschenberg's] seminal role in laying the foundation of today's contemporary art practice--Angela M. H. Schuster "Art + Auction"

Robert Rauschenberg's Sixties riot is the show of the year--Mark Hudson "The Telegraph"

Some artists leave an important mark; only a handful deliver the kind of legacy handed down by Robert Rauschenberg, the twentieth century's art-gospel-spreading, medium-challenging, style-switching creative Johnny Appleseed.--Christian Viveros-Faune "The Village Voice"

Substantial... The publication deserves particular mention as an integral part of the show's achievement, as it does much to synthesize and extend a wide range of recent scholarship on Rauschenberg's work.--Luke Skrebowski "Artforum"

The breadth of his vision is mind-opening--Rachel Campbell-Johnston "The Times"

The ethos that permeates Rauschenberg's work, openness, commitment to dialogue and collaboration, and global curiosity, makes him, now more than ever, a touchstone for our troubled times.-- "Artnet"

The example of his nimble intelligence and zestful audacity affected the sense of vocation--thoughts and motives, doubts and dreams--of subsequent generations, to this day.--Peter Schjeldahl "The New Yorker"

The magic of Rauschenberg's work is that it doesn't matter if it's a piece of crumpled metal or a highly polished silkscreen; it's his voice that comes through, in color, line, proportion and attitude.--Mary Gregory "Our Town"

About the Author

Leah Dickerman is The Marlene Hess Curator of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art. Achim Borchardt-Hume is Director of Exhibitions, Tate Modern. Yve-Alain Bois is Professor of Art History, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University. Andrianna Campbell is a Doctoral Candidate, CUNY Graduate Center. Hal Foster is Townsend Martin, Class of 1917, Professor of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University. Mark Godfrey is Senior Curator, International Art (Europe and Americas), Tate Modern. Hiroko Ikegami is Associate Professor, Graduate School of Intercultural Studies, Kobe University. Branden Joseph is Frank Gallipoli Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art, Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University. Ed Krcma is Lecturer in Art History, University of East Anglia. Michelle Kuo is Editor in Chief, Artforum International Magazine. Pamela Lee is Jeanette and William Hayden Jones Professor in American Art and Culture, Stanford University. Emily Liebert is Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art. Richard Meyer is Robert and Ruth Halperin Professor in Art History, Stanford University. Helen Molesworth is Chief Curator, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Kate Nesin is Associate Curator, Art Institute of Chicago. Sarah Roberts is Andrew W. Mellon Associate Curator of Painting and Sculpture, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Catherine Wood is Senior Curator, International Art (Performance).