Note: It is difficult to imagine a more splendid way to spend a Saturday than visiting and viewing this exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery at 980 Madison Avenue. The gallery press release which follows is incredibly enticing and promises a view into a superb collection of paintings and sculptures curated for his own pleasure and, I would imagine, with at least a slight nod toward posterity, by a master modern artist.
With this exhibition, a posthumously published Robert Rauschenberg, the art and communication continues (mostly) unabated.
With this exhibition, a posthumously published Robert Rauschenberg, the art and communication continues (mostly) unabated.
Andy Warhol: Portrait of Robert Rauschenberg
(1967)
NEW YORK, N.Y.- Gagosian Gallery,
in collaboration with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, presents “The
Private Collection of Robert Rauschenberg,” selections from
Rauschenberg's personal art collection. This is the first time that
Rauschenberg’s collection has been publicly presented and that an
artist’s collection has been exhibited at the gallery. It follows the
acclaimed introductory survey exhibition of Rauschenberg’s own work
presented at Gagosian West 21st Street in 2010. Proceeds from the
collection help fund the endowment established for the Foundation’s
philanthropic activities.
An artist’s collection is a rare resource, charged with anecdotes
of how and why and where works were acquired, as well as whether they
represented epistemic interests, or they were used for reference in the
creation of new works. This fascinating exhibition provides special
insight into Rauschenberg’s broader inspirations as well as his
friendships and affinities, the causes he supported, and his personal
philanthropic initiatives.
Marcel Duchamp:
Above: Bottlerack (detail of base) (1960 Duchamp-signed replica readymade)
Below: Bottlerack (full view)(1920 Duchamp-signed replica readymade for Suzanne Duchamp)
A game-changing figure in post-war American art, Rauschenberg
bridged all traditional boundaries between medium and genre and forever
changed the relationship between artist, image, and viewer. He quickly
identified as his driving energies and motivations the incidental, the
immediate, and the perception of a presence greater than his own
artistic virtuosity. Rauschenberg truly believed in the communicative
and transformative potential of art and throughout his life he devoted
his creative energies equally to artistic and philanthropic activities.
In 1970 he founded Change, Inc. to assist artists financially in
emergency situations, and in the 1980s he inaugurated ROCI (Rauschenberg
Overseas Culture Interchange), a pattern-breaking, collaborative,
global exhibition project that forged entirely new artistic territory in
international dialogue and peace-keeping. In 1990 he formed the Robert
Rauschenberg Foundation to benefit and promote awareness of the causes
and groups close to his heart. Activities included educational art
programs, environmental and humanitarian campaigns, as well as grants
and direct assistance to artistic collaborations. Since Rauschenberg’s
death in 2008, the Foundation is responsible for maintaining this legacy
as well as the expansion of philanthropic activities consistent with
his personal view that “Art can change the world.”
Jasper Johns, Map, 1960
In addition to his philanthropic spirit and his championing of
positive change, Rauschenberg was also acknowledged to be one of the
most generous and inquisitive artists of his time, passionately engaged
in, and supportive of, the art of others. Over a lifetime, he acquired
through exchanges, gifts, and purchases, an astonishingly rich
collection of artworks by seminal forbears (Joseph Beuys, Marcel
Duchamp, René Magritte, Edweard Muybridge); a wide circle of friends,
including choreographers and composers (Trisha Brown, John Cage, John
Chamberlain, Merce Cunningham, Oyvind Fahlstrom, Willem de Kooning,
Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist, Karl
Heinz Stockhausen, Jean Tinguely, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, Susan Weil);
and younger colleagues (David Byrne, Robert Mapplethorpe, Brice Marden,
Bruce Nauman, Ed Ruscha).
Ed Ruscha: Romeo, With
Contraceptive Ghost (1980)
Some of these artworks—such as Duchamp’s Bottlerack (1960), Cage’s
original scores, Marden’s Choice (1967), and Ruscha’s Romeo, With
Contraceptive Ghost (1980), represent milestones in recent contemporary
art history; others, such as Warhol’s Portrait of Robert Rauschenberg
(1967), John Chamberlain’s jewel-like sculpture Homer (1960) and
Trisha Brown’s vigorous notations are of a different order, intimate and
highly personal, though no less potent. Whether masterpiece or token in
the general order of things, Rauschenberg ascribed equal importance to
all and this exhibition of the art with which he surrounded himself
seeks to reflect the breadth, openness and sincerity of his vision.
A catalogue of selected works from the collection is currently being
prepared by Gagosian Gallery and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.
Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg in his Pearl Street studio, NY, ca. 1956
© Jasper Johns/ Licensed by VAGA, New York
© Jasper Johns/ Licensed by VAGA, New York
Imagine having a private collection of great art . . .
ReplyDeleteI have imagined it and have tried judiciously to assemble mental collections of certain objects I would most want to own. It's actually a fairly small list; I don't need to own the Getty collection. Thinking of Rauschenberg's collection, I am reminded a bit of the superb collections that Marcel Duchamp assembled (for pay) for Walter Conrad Arensberg and Katherine Dreier. Art collections curated by artists are an interesting thing and I think that Rauschenberg's must have been very good. (I assume the presence of a novelty like a David Byrne artwork must have been a gift the artist couldn't refuse, an anomaly.) I heard someone say that there are two types of "art people" -- dealers and collectors -- and never the twain shall meet, and I think there's some truth to it. Caroline and I have collected a little, but would like to pay much more attention to this in the future. My personal "collections," such as they are now, consist mostly of some fairly rare books that interest me, an autograph letter by the English writer Julian Maclaren-Ross, and a performance contract requiring the rock band The Move (I'm a big fan) to play a famous show at the Royal Albert Hall in London where they opened for the "Sweetheart of the Rodeo"-era Byrds. Some other good acts were on the bill and I imagine the ticket prices were reasonable. Those were the days. Sunday morning greetings from Chester County, PA. Curtis
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