Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008), born in Port Arthur, Texas, lived and worked in New York and Florida. A pivotal figure in postwar American art, he challenged the boundaries between painting, sculpture and everyday life through his innovative combinations of painting, photography, found objects and printed imagery. His pioneering Combines of the 1950s brought ordinary objects and images into the picture, while his extensive printmaking practice continued this exploration of mass media, popular culture and contemporary events. Rauschenberg’s work is characterized by its layered compositions, unexpected juxtapositions and constant experimentation across media.
In collaboration with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, we have compiled a comprehensive survey of the artist’s works in edition, currently covering the period from 1962 to 1979. The survey is an ongoing project and is available as a freely accessible digital resource on Ars Publicata, with further information on Rauschenberg’s edition oeuvre forthcoming.
Robert Rauschenberg Editions
Robert Rauschenberg
For Ferraro
1992
Color screenprint on Rives BFK wove paper, 25.5 × 21 cm. Edition of 150, signed and numbered.
Robert Rauschenberg’s edition For Ferraro (1992) was created for Geraldine Ferraro’s 1992 U.S. Senate campaign in New York. The work brings together photographic images of classical sculpture with bold geometric forms and gestural marks, combining references to America’s cultural heritage with the immediacy of contemporary political imagery. The large red-tinted image of the Statue of Liberty forms the central focus, while the reclining classical figure above it introduces a striking contrast between ancient and modern symbols. Rauschenberg’s layered composition reflects his characteristic approach of bringing disparate images and visual languages into unexpected relationships.
EUR 4,500
Robert Rauschenberg
Rays
1973
Offset lithograph and screenprint in colors on wove paper, 134.7 × 99 cm (53 × 39 in). Edition of 95, signed and numbered.
Rays by Robert Rauschenberg is a dynamic edition that exemplifies the artist’s distinctive approach to collage and image-making. Photographic imagery, gestural marks, printed textures and areas of colour are layered into a dreamlike composition, bringing together seemingly unrelated elements: a bat with outstretched wings, a dark circular form reminiscent of a moon, and a vivid red square set against a softly coloured ground.
The juxtaposition of these fragments creates a tension between the familiar and the abstract. Rauschenberg’s combination of photographic and painterly elements transforms everyday imagery into an enigmatic visual landscape, in which natural forms, geometric shapes and expressive textures coexist. As in much of his work, Rays resists a single interpretation, inviting the viewer to explore the unexpected relationships between its disparate images and surfaces.
EUR 4,500
Robert Rauschenberg
Poster for Peace
1971
Color offset lithograph and silkscreen on Rives BFK paper, 73 × 54.6 cm. Edition of 250 + 20 A.P., signed and numbered.
Robert Rauschenberg’s edition Poster for Peace (1971) combines photographic imagery, newspaper fragments, handwritten instructions and graphic elements in a deliberately open-ended composition. Images of telephones, a skull, a bird and a landscape are juxtaposed with empty spaces and handwritten prompts, inviting the viewer to add newspaper material to the work.
Created in the context of Rauschenberg’s longstanding political and antiwar engagement, the work was published in 1971 for the National Peace Action Coalition. By leaving parts of the composition intentionally unfinished, Rauschenberg turns the poster into an interactive statement, allowing each viewer to incorporate fragments of current events and make the work their own.
EUR 3,000
Robert Rauschenberg
Paris Review
1965
Offset lithograph in colours on wove paper, 63.5 × 53.3 cm. This is a signed but unnumbered copy aside from the standard, numbered edition of 150.
Robert Rauschenberg’s edition Paris Review (1965) brings together photographic imagery, graphic elements and a dense grid structure in a characteristically layered composition. A nude figure dominates the centre, surrounded by fragments of everyday life and popular imagery, including a globe, a glass of water, a boat at sea and a military vessel. Handwritten notes, postal markings and diagrammatic lines further contribute to the work’s collage-like visual language.
The juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated images creates a constantly shifting field of associations, in which no single motif takes precedence. Rauschenberg’s use of ordinary photographic and graphic material reflects his characteristic approach of bringing elements of contemporary life into unexpected relationships, allowing the world around him to enter the picture.
EUR 3,000
