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Lot Essay
From the Collection of Susan Weil, Robert Rauschenberg's four important early works point not only to a pivotal moment in his career, but also to the relationship that profoundly transformed Rauschenberg's artistic method.
Susan Weil and Robert Rauschenberg first met in Paris in 1948, living on the same pension in Montparnasse and both attending the Académie Julian. Weil remembered, "He was from Texas, trying out art school in Kansas City. And, then he went to the Acadmie after World War II. He knew nothing about art, except that it was for him" (S. Weil, "Susan Weil Interviewed by Laurie Marshall," p.9). They soon became inseparable-taking to the streets and wandering throughout Pairs with their sketch pads and oil crayons.
In the fall, Weil left Paris for Black Mountain College in North Carolina, and Rauschenberg soon followed. Having read about Josef Albers, the Head of Black Mountain College (who had formerly lead the Bauhaus) in Time magazine, Rauschenberg decided Albers' doctrine of restraint and control was exactly what his painting needed. He later remarked, "I was willing to submerge any desires I had into his discipline" (R. Rauschenberg, quoted in C. Tompkins, Off the Wall, New York, 2005, p. 28). In fact, Albers took notice of Rauschenberg and Weil as well, nicknaming them, "the Bobbsey twins." The couple also studied under Anni Albers, Willem de Kooning, and alongside fellow students John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Franz Kline and Kenneth Noland.
Spending the entire summer at Weil's family home on Outer Island, Connecticut, Weil introduced Rauschenberg to her method of exposing blueprint paper. The couple married in 1950, and moved into a tiny apartment on West 96th Street, collaborating on a number of extraordinary projects, most notably the Blueprint series of 1951, 125 as chronicled by Life magazine. Their son Christopher was born in 1951. While in New York, Rauschenberg took classes at the Art Students League, where he met Cy Twombly, who joined the couple at Black Mountain. The following year, Twombly traveled to Europe on a grant from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and urged Rauschenberg to join.
Perhaps one of the most fabled journeys in the history of modern art is the legendary retreat of Rauschenberg and Twombly to Italy and Morocco in the summer of 1952. Going first to Rome, Rauschenberg explored Rome's vibrant art scene, however as money became scarce he sought employment in North Africa. There his wages were low, the travel constant, and accommodations scarce, he was forced to pack and carry his materials with him-so his works became necessarily portable. He began creating small, hanging assemblages and boxes filled with found, primitive-looking objects. Returning to Rome, these works were exhibited at the Galleria del Obelisco in Rome, the gallery owner described Rauschenberg's curiosities, "Fetticci personale et scatole collective."
The collages resulting from his explorations in Rome and North Africa in 1952 and 1953, are among the most informative creations in the artist's oeuvre, providing insight into his own artistic voyage. Rauschenberg used cardboards saved from his laundered shirts to provide a surface on which to build and layer images and materials.
In Untitled (scorpion and plant), printed imagery from antiquated anatomy and zoology books traces Rauschenberg's journey through the exotic landscape of North Africa, while fragments of Arabic newspapers relate his enduring interests back home-as they relate the news of General Eisenhower's inaugural address in 1953 and Queen Elizabeth's new role as monarch. In Untitled (Elongated X-form) and Untitled (X-form) the dreamy collages have a tactility that recalls Albers matire studies at Black Mountain. Their shadowy X-marks drawn in crayon overlay faintly-colored printed images of leaves and twigs that draw on the iconography of his and Weil's early blueprint painting, Untitled [Feet + Foliage].
As early as 1951, Rauschenberg incorporated the surrounding environment into his work, by his White Paintings series, in which smooth, uninflected surfaces capture the patterns and reflections of light and shadow. These four with their intense focus on materiality and their use of found materials including silk, newsprint, paper and cloth anticipate the layered surfaces of his Red Paintings and later, his iconic Combines. Presented to her upon Rauschenberg's return to New York, each of the four collages pays tribute to Weil, who became a notable artist in her own right. Her crucial role in Rauschenberg's art is evident, as they mirror her own Neo-Dadaist impulse and use of found materials. Emerging as one of the leading artistic couples of the 1950s, Weil and Rauschenberg together pursued an aesthetic that would change the face of modern art.
In the Untitled [scorpion and plant], Rauschenberg collages delicate fabric with exotic imagery collected during his travels through Morocco and Italy. This work was exhibited at the Menil Collection's exhibition Robert Rauschenberg: The Early 1950s. Influenced by the flotsam and jetsam of flea markets, Rauschenberg pieced together his materials on stiff paper shirt-boards, he juxtaposes Arabic newspaper fragments with antiquated zoology prints of a budding plant and a scorpion. The tactile frays possess poetic tactility, as they anticipate his use of fabric on his high-relief canvases. According to Walter Hopps, "The imagist implications of these collages would powerfully reemerge later in the 1950s. Many stand as small-scale paradigms for his future Combines" (ibid, p. 112).
Susan Weil and Robert Rauschenberg first met in Paris in 1948, living on the same pension in Montparnasse and both attending the Académie Julian. Weil remembered, "He was from Texas, trying out art school in Kansas City. And, then he went to the Acadmie after World War II. He knew nothing about art, except that it was for him" (S. Weil, "Susan Weil Interviewed by Laurie Marshall," p.9). They soon became inseparable-taking to the streets and wandering throughout Pairs with their sketch pads and oil crayons.
In the fall, Weil left Paris for Black Mountain College in North Carolina, and Rauschenberg soon followed. Having read about Josef Albers, the Head of Black Mountain College (who had formerly lead the Bauhaus) in Time magazine, Rauschenberg decided Albers' doctrine of restraint and control was exactly what his painting needed. He later remarked, "I was willing to submerge any desires I had into his discipline" (R. Rauschenberg, quoted in C. Tompkins, Off the Wall, New York, 2005, p. 28). In fact, Albers took notice of Rauschenberg and Weil as well, nicknaming them, "the Bobbsey twins." The couple also studied under Anni Albers, Willem de Kooning, and alongside fellow students John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Franz Kline and Kenneth Noland.
Spending the entire summer at Weil's family home on Outer Island, Connecticut, Weil introduced Rauschenberg to her method of exposing blueprint paper. The couple married in 1950, and moved into a tiny apartment on West 96th Street, collaborating on a number of extraordinary projects, most notably the Blueprint series of 1951, 125 as chronicled by Life magazine. Their son Christopher was born in 1951. While in New York, Rauschenberg took classes at the Art Students League, where he met Cy Twombly, who joined the couple at Black Mountain. The following year, Twombly traveled to Europe on a grant from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and urged Rauschenberg to join.
Perhaps one of the most fabled journeys in the history of modern art is the legendary retreat of Rauschenberg and Twombly to Italy and Morocco in the summer of 1952. Going first to Rome, Rauschenberg explored Rome's vibrant art scene, however as money became scarce he sought employment in North Africa. There his wages were low, the travel constant, and accommodations scarce, he was forced to pack and carry his materials with him-so his works became necessarily portable. He began creating small, hanging assemblages and boxes filled with found, primitive-looking objects. Returning to Rome, these works were exhibited at the Galleria del Obelisco in Rome, the gallery owner described Rauschenberg's curiosities, "Fetticci personale et scatole collective."
The collages resulting from his explorations in Rome and North Africa in 1952 and 1953, are among the most informative creations in the artist's oeuvre, providing insight into his own artistic voyage. Rauschenberg used cardboards saved from his laundered shirts to provide a surface on which to build and layer images and materials.
In Untitled (scorpion and plant), printed imagery from antiquated anatomy and zoology books traces Rauschenberg's journey through the exotic landscape of North Africa, while fragments of Arabic newspapers relate his enduring interests back home-as they relate the news of General Eisenhower's inaugural address in 1953 and Queen Elizabeth's new role as monarch. In Untitled (Elongated X-form) and Untitled (X-form) the dreamy collages have a tactility that recalls Albers matire studies at Black Mountain. Their shadowy X-marks drawn in crayon overlay faintly-colored printed images of leaves and twigs that draw on the iconography of his and Weil's early blueprint painting, Untitled [Feet + Foliage].
As early as 1951, Rauschenberg incorporated the surrounding environment into his work, by his White Paintings series, in which smooth, uninflected surfaces capture the patterns and reflections of light and shadow. These four with their intense focus on materiality and their use of found materials including silk, newsprint, paper and cloth anticipate the layered surfaces of his Red Paintings and later, his iconic Combines. Presented to her upon Rauschenberg's return to New York, each of the four collages pays tribute to Weil, who became a notable artist in her own right. Her crucial role in Rauschenberg's art is evident, as they mirror her own Neo-Dadaist impulse and use of found materials. Emerging as one of the leading artistic couples of the 1950s, Weil and Rauschenberg together pursued an aesthetic that would change the face of modern art.
In the Untitled [scorpion and plant], Rauschenberg collages delicate fabric with exotic imagery collected during his travels through Morocco and Italy. This work was exhibited at the Menil Collection's exhibition Robert Rauschenberg: The Early 1950s. Influenced by the flotsam and jetsam of flea markets, Rauschenberg pieced together his materials on stiff paper shirt-boards, he juxtaposes Arabic newspaper fragments with antiquated zoology prints of a budding plant and a scorpion. The tactile frays possess poetic tactility, as they anticipate his use of fabric on his high-relief canvases. According to Walter Hopps, "The imagist implications of these collages would powerfully reemerge later in the 1950s. Many stand as small-scale paradigms for his future Combines" (ibid, p. 112).