Robert Rauschenberg: Combines

Book Description

Poetic and lush, Robert Rauschenberg's Combines present layers of complex and sometimes conflicting information. This approach, first explored by Rauschenberg in the early 1950s, proved prescient and has become increasingly relevant in the current age of cascading information, when even the most ground-breaking artists are referencing and sampling disparate elements to create new forms. The Combines suggest the fragility of definitions, the fluidity of materials, and the complexity of forms that are characteristic of Rauschenberg's works. The artist's handling of materials provides a precise physical evolutionary link between the painterly qualities of Abstract Expressionism and iconographical, subject-driven early Pop Art. This book focuses on the works created roughly between 1954 and 1964, the most important decade in the artist's 50-year career, and constitutes the most complete survey of the Combines ever presented, as well as the most rigorous analysis of their political, social, autobiographical, and aesthetic significance. An introductory essay by exhibition curator Paul Schimmel titled "Reading Rauschenberg" offers an iconographic analysis of the earlier Combines, based on in-depth conversations with the artist. Other texts help to contextualize the Combines, such as Thomas Crow's essay that calls them the major artistic statement of their time, and the one body of art that could simultaneously hold its own from De Kooning to Pop art.

Customer Reviews:

Must have for fans.......2007-10-03

Living in a place where its rare to see an original Rauschenberg combine, this book has standout photgraphs of the works, with detailed views to complement the full image- the first two essays also provide some keen insights into the processes and influences on Rauschenberg's life and work. Definitely recommend for artists
or interested art followers. These works constitute what I think were the finest in his career.

The best art exhibit of 2006.......2007-04-07

It is great to be able to have this book as a remembrance of the great exhibition it illustrates. Every single piece reproduced here is a masterpiece of creativity and the quality of the reproductions do justice to the works of art, which is no small achievement considering that the Combines are intricate mixtures of sculptures and paintings. You also discover what a master of color the artist is, an aspect often overlooked by his critics. I love Rauschenberg's Combines, they give me joy, they make me happy and so does this book.

Robert Rauschenberg: Man or Genius Man?.......2006-04-27

This book blatantly rocks my world. It has a very nice selection of images, and is much more affordable than the godly $900 retrospective catalogue. Amen.

daringly junky, breathtaking, beautiful.......2006-02-10

This book is a catalogue for current exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and then the Museum of Contemporary Art, LA, and in Europe at the Pompidou Center, Paris and the Moderna Museet, Stockholm.

As installed at the Metropolitan Museum of art, the show is stunning. It's astonishing that this exhibit is the first time these works from the 1950's have been shown together. These "combines" -- art somewhere between painting, collage, and sculpture -- are a foundation of modern art, so much so that art of the second half of the century is hardly conceivable without them. This makes looking at the work afresh more difficult than usual, since seeing these pieces together in 2006 means also viewing through a legacy and school of influence.

But what phenomenal pieces they are! You can see Rauschenberg gobbling down visual techniques whole - collage, assemblage, juxtaposing printed images, materials, sculpture. They are daringly junky and breathtakingly beautiful. I have know idea whether you'd call this conceptual art, or the most luscious, messy opposite of conceptual art you've ever seen. The works are fearlessness. Really inspiring.

The catalogue has excellent reproductions, and the photography is quite good at conveying the depth of the pieces - some of the works are presented from several angles so the more sculptural pieces are well conveyed.

A Richly Rewarding Survey of the Gifts of Robert Rauschenberg.......2006-02-07

ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG: COMBIINES is the name of an exhibition currently on display and one garnering some of the warmest acceptance by both critics and public alike of any retrospective survey in years. Not that Rauschenberg is a 'discovery' unearthed by this generous volume: there have been many excellent monographs and catalogues printed about this extraordinarily gifted artist who for the past half century has been creating art from found and constructed objects.

Rauschenberg's art has always had secondary messages - political, anti-war, ethnic, sexual, and ecological statements - housed in the fascinatingly complex assemblages that are part of the collections of the major museums around the world. This fine book limits its survey to the prescient years 1954 to 1964, that period during which Rauschenberg became well known and highly respected for his art and beliefs. Curator Paul Schimmel writes a fine essay about this period and accompanies his own perceptions with those garnered from a very informative shared conversation with Rauschenberg himself. Likewise Thomas Crow writes an immensely readable chapter on just how Rauschenberg came in this realm of artistic expression and from Crow's writing we learn much about the mid-century changes in American art.

The reproductions of the art works are excellent and if there aren't as many images as one would wish, it is because of the self-imposed limited time frame in Rauschenberg's career of the exhibition. A fine volume, highly recommended for all art history majors and for those under the spell of this great artist. Grady Harp, February 06

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Wonderful, though more text than I wanted
Excellent well presented book
This is a very comprehensive overview of Rauschenberg's work
Rauschenberg, the book

Robert Rauschenberg : A Retrospective
Robert Rauschenberg , Susan Davidson , Tricia Brown , Ruth E. Fine , Billy Kluver , Julie Martin , Rosalind E. Krauss , Steve Paxton , Nancy Spector , Charles F. Stuckey , and Walter Hopps
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0810969033

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful, though more text than I wanted.......2001-12-28

I was very pleased by the large number of high-quality reproductions. Still, as far as I'm concerned there should have been *more*. The book contains (a rough count) about 280 pages containing text or mostly text, out of about 630 total pages. However, I'm very happy with the book.

Excellent well presented book.......1999-09-14

The problem with art books is that they go out of print too quickly. This is a beautifully presented book on Rauschenberg that was released with the big retrospective at the Guggenheim in 97/98. Barnes and Noble still had copies avaiable as of Sept. 99, so check there -- they were even discounted!

This is a very comprehensive overview of Rauschenberg's work.......1999-06-04

For the fan and the collector, this book is an excellent reference guide that offers extensive illustrations of the works themselves, as well as documentary photos of the artist at work and play. A chronology, exhibition and performance histories are also included. I was also very interested in the information regarding Rauschenberg's work processes and collaborations with other artists. This is a fine addition to any art library.

This book was offered in paperback during a recent exhibition at the San Francisco MOMA, so if you can find the hard cover you should buy it.

Rauschenberg, the book.......1997-11-26

The book is beautiful, if very heavy. The fault lies not with the catalog but with the show itself. THERE'S TOO MUCH STUFF and not all of it is worth looking at. The book will prove to be an invaluable companion to the catalog from the National Gallery of Art's 1976 retrospective. But it (and the show) sure could have used some editing.

Robert Rauschenberg: Cardboards and Related Pieces (Menil Collection)

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Robert Rauschenberg: Cardboards and Related Pieces (Menil Collection)
Yve-Alain Bois
Manufacturer: The Menil Collection
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0300123787

Book Description

Robert Rauschenberg (b. 1925) began to investigate the boundaries between painting and sculpture in the 1950s, working with a variety of found objects in his Combine paintings and freestanding Combines. Later, in his Cardboard series (1971--72), he confined himself to the use of cardboard boxes, eliminating virtually all imagery, reducing the palette to a near monochrome, and commenting in subtle ways on the materialism and disposability of modern life. This book is the first to focus exclusively on Rauschenberg’s rarely seen Cardboards, along with related works from his Made in Tampa Clay, Cardbirds, Egyptian, and Venetian series.
Approximately eighty-eight Cardboards and related sculptural pieces, many from the artist’s personal collection, are reproduced in the book. Full provenance and exhibition history are provided for each work, along with a complete bibliography. In addition, distinguished scholar Yve-Alain Bois offers an insightful essay that discusses the Cardboards and situates these lesser-known but critical pieces within the context of Rauschenberg’s long and creative career.

The Furniture of Charleston, 1680-1820 (The Frank L. Horton Series)

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The Furniture of Charleston, 1680-1820 (The Frank L. Horton Series)
Bradford L. Rauschenberg , and John Bivins
Manufacturer: Old Salem
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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An Expanded Biography of Robert Rauschenberg

Rauschenberg: Art and Life
Mary Lynn Kotz
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0810955881

Book Description

Iconoclastic, generous, inventive, impulsive, sensitive, gregarious, prodigious: these are just some of the words to describe Robert Rauschenberg and the art he has been making now for 50 years. From the age of 38, when he received the grand prize at the Venice Biennale in 1964, Rauschenberg has been a pivotal figure in the art of our time. This revised edition of the classic biography of the artist, first published in 1994, adds 36 new pages to cover the significant moments in the last ten years of his career, including his monumental career retrospective at the Guggenheim in 1997.

With 230 illustrations, 112 in full color, Rauschenberg: Art and Life is a richly impressive and highly readable portrait of the artist. Showing the astonishing dexterity and range of Rauschenberg's art even as an emerging artist; the creation of his now famous combines; his eagerness to bridge art and technology; and the establishment of ROCI (Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange), this is a book, as one reviewer put it, "to grab from a burning house." AUTHOR BIO: Mary Lynn Kotz is the author of the best-selling Upstairs at the White House, Marvella, and A Passion for Equality (with Nick Kotz). She is a contributing editor to ARTnews and has written for many major magazines in her 20-year career as a journalist. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Customer Reviews:

An Expanded Biography of Robert Rauschenberg.......2006-07-24

'Notes to accompany an exhibition' would be a fitting title for this book for those who are unaware of Mary Lynn Kotz' revised/updated biography of Robert Rauschenberg as they currently enjoy the spectacular traveling exhibition of his works, COMBINES, currently filling the generous spaces of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Though the accompanying exhibition catalogue/book COMBINES, also available through Amazon.com, touches on many aspects of Rauschenberg's life, Kotz is a bit more conversational and adds to the art history aspect of the painter's life by a broader survey of his output.

Rauschenberg is about as American as they come, being born in Texas to a conservative family, destined for a career in the ministry but instead electing to flee the home and settle in New York where his more bohemian aspects blossomed into the important art figure he has become. His life has been enriched by alliances with Jasper Johns and Merce Cunningham, by struggle with some addictions, a bumpy personal life, but he has always been a warm, friendly, rather selfless artist who was unafraid to create art that reflects his life and times.

Some of the more helpful information Kotz delivers concerns Rauschenberg's idiosyncratic art techniques, creative modes in painting, photography, collage, construction, print making, and contributions to the theater (not only with sets designed for ballets, but incorporating poetry and media in a poignant manner into his sculptural works). Rauschenberg the Humanitarian also emerges as an icon for other artists to emulate in his serious work with global communication within the arts as a manner of inviting meaningful international conversation.

The book contains a generous number of full color plates of his art and his conceptual stages. The broad aspect of the works Kotz elects to include is very much in her favor as a biographer. For those who wish to understand the man behind the extraordinary art that is traveling the country, add this fine volume to the library. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, July 06

Black Paintings: Robert Rauschenberg, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, Frank Stella

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Black is Light

Black Paintings: Robert Rauschenberg, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, Frank Stella

Manufacturer: Hatje Cantz
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3775718605
Release Date: 2007-01-01

Book Description

In the late 1940s, several prominent artists of the New York School--among them Robert Rauschenberg, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko and Frank Stella--were intently studying the color black. That work, interrelated but not collaborative, resulted in an astonishing number of almost monochromatic black paintings, which today are considered treasures of many major collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art's. For the first time, Black Paintings gathers all of the best of the title artist's black works together: textured black, striped black, blue-black, brown-black, black-black. In thorough illustration and thoughtful analysis, it sheds light on the differences between these postwar works as well as their commonalities. For Frank Stella and Robert Rauschenberg, black was a way to disappear into something new, a way to a new artistic vocabulary. For Mark Rothko, it stood for emptiness and nothingness; it asked the spectator to reflect back on it. For Ad Reinhardt, it offered denial and invisibility. Each artist's black portfolio reflects a breakthrough or transition in his own work, and, combined, they represent a larger moment of transition. The Black Paintings marked both a beginning and an end: the end of painting as illusion, as a window onto the world, and the beginning of painting as the mode for the creation of self-sufficient perceptual objects--a change that granted new roles to both artist and viewer.

Customer Reviews:

Black is Light.......2007-09-13

Black Paintings offers a unique view of the creative process of image making among some of the prominent painters of our time. The book has an unusual format - the font used and layout of the text, almost as though it was done on a typewriter.
The quality of the reproductions is very good although some of them require taking a hard look to see the nuances of tonal differences within the dark shades of black.
I highly recommend this book to anyone seriously interested in the art of painting.

Average customer rating:

should have been better
Don't waste your money!
DRAWING from the MODERN

Drawing From The Modern
Agnes Martin , Gary Garrels , Carl Andre , Willem de Kooning , Eva Hesse , Jasper Johns , Ellsworth Kelly , Sol Lewitt , Roy Lichtenstein , Brice Marden , Barnett Newman , Claes Oldenburg , Jackson Pollock , Robert Rauschenberg , Richard Serra , Cy Twombly , and Dan Flavin
Manufacturer: The Museum of Modern Art, New York
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0870706640
Release Date: 2005-03-15

Book Description

Visual art in the period following World War II witnessed landmark transformations. Today, drawing provides a powerful and vigorous device for reexamining the art of that period, and for renewing appreciation of the extraordinary achievements of well-known artists--and for discovering others. Even though the art of these years saw radical departures and shifts, drawing, which is among the most traditional of media, played a crucial and consistent role in the work of a great majority of the most significant artists. Drawing from the Modern, 1945-1975, surveys the drawing of the period through the unparalleled holdings of the drawings collection of The Museum of Modern Art. The postwar period saw the development of Abstract Expressionism in New York, followed by Pop art, Minimal art, and Conceptual art, and the Museum's collection has exceptional strength in these areas. Abstract drawings by Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Barnett Newman open this volume, followed by works by such key figures as Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, and Cy Twombly. Next, drawings by Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, and Andy Warhol signal the arrival of a new figurative art at the forefront of creativity. But reductive and abstract art kept pace, and the Museum's collection offers a breathtaking array of drawings by Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Eva Hesse, Sol LeWitt, Brice Marden, Agnes Martin, Richard Serra, and numerous others. What constitutes "progress" in art is questioned today, and it is no longer possible to see the development of art as a straight line, with synchronicity among places and geographies. But drawing, by its very nature, encourages established understandings to be examined and accepted values to be reappraised. Many of the artists represented here defy easy categorization, including Lee Bontecou, Louise Bourgeois, Vija Celmins, Bruce Conner, Ray Johnson, Jim Nutt, and Myron Stout. The resurgence of European art is represented by drawings by Georg Baselitz, Joseph Beuys, Marcel Broodthaers, Piero Manzoni, Henri Michaux, Mario Merz, and Sigmar Polke, among others. A number the most important artists working in Latin America in the postwar period are also represented, including Jorge de la Vega, Gego, LeAn Ferrari, Halio Oiticica, and Mira Schendel. While neither the collection nor this volume is encyclopedic, the spirit and achievements of postwar art are distilled and amply celebrated here.

Customer Reviews:

should have been better.......2007-09-13

I purchased book 1 & 2 from Amazon. The illustrations are far too small to be a professionally represented art book from MOMA I've decided to save my money rather than pay out for the 3rd edition. It sounds a good buy from its description but I don't consider this trilogy to be very satisfactory.

Don't waste your money!.......2007-08-09

This is not a good artbook. The images are way too small to be satisfying. This book could have been great, but falls way short of its potential. Don't buy it, you will be disappointed.

DRAWING from the MODERN.......2006-12-27

DRAWING from the MODERN is the first of a three part series published by MOMA as catalogue to accompany the chronologically arranged exhibitions of their drawing collection; in part, celebration of the seventy fifth anniversary of the founding of the Museum.

This first book looks at the late nineteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth. Care and preservation of these drawings dictate that they are displayed infrequently, paper being a delicate medium, subject to fading, discoloration and brittleness. The publication of this series then allows us to have at hand a history of drawings seldom seen, and a visual education demonstrating how problems of that era both evolved and worked themselves out.

The introduction by Jodi Hauptman is broad and well worth reading. Aside from her entertaining "end of art" stories, she addresses artists and process leading to the dissolution of prevalent notions: relationship of "mark" to "ground", took new form; spatial notions of an orderly page, questioned; the element of chance, explored as process; the ego relationship of an artist to work, dissolving. New imagery happened: collage, abstraction, grids, enhanced emotions, metaphors of feeling, the sublime re-imaged. New subjects explored brutalities of war, notions of "city", identity, the spiritual, and the abstract.

As perhaps with all process of art, the uncertainty of change brought forth much that is new. The 139 plates of drawings both demonstrate and give testimony by leading artists of the time to new era in process. Drawing as subject matter is fascinating. To be expected, the book is well printed. Of course, what is book one without book two and three?

Nancy Gutrich

Cézanne/Pissarro, Johns/Rauschenberg: Comparative Studies on Intersubjectivity in Modern Art

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Cézanne/Pissarro, Johns/Rauschenberg: Comparative Studies on Intersubjectivity in Modern Art
Joachim Pissarro
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Art as Existence: The Artist's Monograph and Its Project

ASIN: 0521836409

Book Description

This book presents a comparative study of two pairs of collaborative artists who worked closely with one another. The first pair, Cézanne and Pissarro, contributed to the emergence of modern art. The second pair, Johns and Rauschenberg, contributed to the demise of modern art. In each case, the two artists entered into a rich and challenging artistic exchange and reaped enormous benefits from this interaction. Joachim Pissarro's comparative study suggests that these interactive dialogues were of great significance for each artist as well.

The Bride and the Bachelors: Five Masters of the Avant-Garde

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Amaze Your Friends With Your Knowledge of Modern Art!
excellent art criticism for the neophyte

The Bride and the Bachelors: Five Masters of the Avant-Garde
Calvin Tomkins
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0670002488

Customer Reviews:

Amaze Your Friends With Your Knowledge of Modern Art!.......2006-11-24

Tomkins' five essays are a great place to start if you've ever wondered about the purpose behind the "avant-garde" in art and want a general overview of its origins. The chapter on Jean Tinguely is especially fine: it is hard to resist the story of a man who builds robots designed to continuously paint abstracts, start fires or simply destroy themselves. The book is well written, easy to read and contains a subtle sense of humor. Reading this book will make you more intelligent.

excellent art criticism for the neophyte.......1998-04-18

this book is a surprisingly accessible work on the lives of five important artists (duchamp, cage, tinguely, rauschenberg, and cunningham) of the avant-garde, each working from a different discipline. tomkins has gathered exhaustive biographical data on each artist and the reader gets the impression that he is good friends with each of them. his critical stance on the artwork discussed is respectful, and he refrains from using a lot of artworld jargon. a very entertaining read.

Random Order: Robert Rauschenberg and the Neo-Avant-Garde (October Books)

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Indispensable

Random Order: Robert Rauschenberg and the Neo-Avant-Garde (October Books)
Branden W. Joseph
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0262600714

Book Description

Robert Rauschenberg is one of the most important visual artists of the second half of the twentieth century. In Random Order, Branden Joseph examines Rauschenberg's work in the context of the American neo-avant-garde. One of the foundations of his study is Rauschenberg's professional relationship with experimental composer John Cage. From the moment of their encounter at Black Mountain College in 1952, Joseph argues, Rauschenberg and Cage initiated a new avant-garde project, one that approached the idea of difference not in terms of negation but as a positive force. Claiming that Rauschenberg's work cannot be understood solely from the standpoint of the Frankfurt School--whose theories have dominated discussions of avant-garde and neo-avant-garde aesthetics--Joseph turns to the theoretical positions of Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Derrida. Rauschenberg's neo-avant-garde was not a simple repetition of earlier avant-garde movements, Joseph shows, but a series of practices that opposed the rise of postwar spectacle, commodification, and mass conformity.

Beginning with the White Paintings, Joseph examines Rauschenberg?s artistic development from 1951 to 1971. He looks at the black paintings, Red Paintings, Elemental Paintings and Elemental Sculptures, Combines and Combine paintings, transfer drawings and silkscreens, performances, and explorations in art and technology. Joseph's study not only offers new interpretations of Rauschenberg's work, but also deepens our understanding of the entire neo-avant-garde project.

Customer Reviews:

Indispensable.......2006-08-04

This study of Rauschenberg will doubtless make itself pretty much indispensable in the literature on the artist. It's a brilliant study- Joseph is in command of the literature on the topic, demonstrates a great deal of theoretical sophistication, as well as showing a lot of sensitivity to the works and their context.

Joseph's contention is to explore Rauschenberg's work in relation to the Neo-avant-garde, seeking to show that his work (along with his colleague John Cage) was neither a farcical repetition of 1920s Dada (ie jaded attempts to "shock" the viewer), nor was it an ironic casting-off of the avant-garde project in favour of a capitulation to commodity capitalism (ie through his pop culture references and so on). Instead, Joseph argues- convincingly- that Rauschenberg (and Cage) sought to escape the tyranny of the self- the "ego" of Absract Expressionism, in order to open up perception to differentiation and multiplicity- an attempt to open up a space beyond the totalised structures of late capitalism. (Joseph's concerns give away his being an ex-student of Benjamin Buchloh- hence these particularly Frankfurt School concerns). So for Joseph, Rauschenberg's White Paintings, or his Tire Print with John Cage, were not simply juvenile pranks, nor farcical, worn-out shock tactics, but serious attempts to disclocate habitual modes of perception and cognition- in this way, Rauschenberg both differs from, and continues the avant-garde project of political change.

Joseph makes a good case- in particular, his first chapter, on Rauschenberg and Cage, where he examines their interest in temporality and flux in relation to the ideas of Bergson, is quite brilliant. But the level of discussion is sustained throughout- it's a compelling and fascinating read which will doubtless provoke a great deal of thought.

As you would expect from the MIT Press, its not a study for the lay reader- the usual phalanx of thinkers are brought to bear- Foucault, Deleuze, Bataille and the like- although Joseph draws on them judiciously, without detracting from the focus of his study. In fact its very readable indeed- Joseph hasn't succumbed (yet) to the puffed-up rhetorical excesses of some of his October colleagues.

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