Whatever is There is a Truth: Robert Rauschenberg’s Prints December 11, 2008

The Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University will host an exhibition of prints by revolutionary postwar American artist Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) from December 12, 2008 through October 4, 2009 in tribute to his life and legacy as a printmaker. The museum is free and open to the public.

This exhibition also celebrates the Haggerty Museum’s recent acquisition of several prints including Robert Luta’s gift of Eagle Eye (Ruminations), 1999, as well as prints from the Stoned Moon series, 1969-70, recently purchased by the museum.

Central to the American art scene from 1950 until his death earlier this year, Rauschenberg was widely regarded as a principal bridge between Abstract Expressionism in the 1950s and Pop art in the 1960s, but he did not subscribe to any narrow doctrine. Rauschenberg worked in a variety of disciplines and mediums including printmaking, painting, sculpture, photography, dance, technology and performance art that has influenced generations of artists. Always counter-intuitively experimenting with techniques, Rauschenberg revolutionized the art of printmaking by combining printmaking methods such as lithography and serigraphy within the same print, producing an effect of the spontaneous stroke in contrast to the precision of a photographic image. His deep and abiding interest in printmaking facilitated a major revival in the medium, and his achievements in lithography were instrumental in the creation of a contemporary market for prints.

Rauschenberg expressed social, cultural and political ideas through his art. The Stoned Moon series of 1969-1970 reflects his artistic response to witnessing the lift-off of Apollo 11 at Kennedy Space Center in 1969 at the invitation of NASA. This series is also a double-entendre as the lithographs are made with stones and the historically significant experience left the artist feeling metaphorically “stoned”.

Milton Ernest (Robert) Rauschenberg was born to Ernest and Dora Rauschenberg in Port Arthur, Texas in 1925. The artist renamed himself Robert in adulthood. He briefly studied pharmacology at the University of Texas in the early 1940s, before being drafted into the United States Navy at which time he developed an interest in drawing. Upon his discharge from the Navy in 1945, Rauschenberg took advantage of the G.I. Bill and studied art at a number of institutions including the Kansas City Art Institute, Academie Julian in Paris, Art Students League in New York and Black Mountain College in North Carolina. While a student at Black Mountain College, Rauschenberg studied under Josef Albers, and had his first solo exhibition at the Betty Parson’s Gallery in New York.

In the early 1950s, he traveled to Europe and North Africa with Art Students League compatriot Cy Twombly at which time he worked on a series of small collages, hanging assemblages, and small boxes filled with found elements, which he exhibited in Rome and Florence. After Rauschenberg’s return to New York in 1953, he met Jasper Johns; the two are considered the most influential of artists who reacted against Abstract Expressionism. They had neighboring studios, regularly exchanging ideas and discussing their work, until 1961.

Rauschenberg began to silkscreen paintings in 1962. In 1963 at the age of 37, he was given his first career retrospective by the Jewish Museum, New York, and was awarded the Grand Prize for Painting at the 1964 Venice Biennale. He spent much of the remainder of the 1960s dedicated to more collaborative projects including printmaking, performance, choreography, set design, and art-and-technology works.

In 1970, Rauschenberg established a permanent residence and studio in Captiva, Florida, where he lived until his death earlier this year.

Official Website: http://www.marquette.edu/haggerty