Robert Rauschenberg: Cardboards and Related Pieces

by Yve-Alain Bois

Featuring 42 of Robert Rauschenberg's pioneering Transfer Drawings of the 1960s, this book reproduces almost half of the works that were made in that tumultuous decade. The historical watershed of 1968 is especially well represented by 23 drawings, at least 15 of which were shown in the influential Ileana Sonnabend Gallery, Paris, in October of that year. They have never been seen before now in the U.S. The imagery in these drawings suggests a growing political consciousness, first engaging the civil rights movement, followed by the Vietnam War and other events of the stormy era. This small but exquisite volume is an absorbing sequel to the 2005-06 international touring exhibition of Rauschenberg's Combines, taking up where those multi-media constructions left off. Among the featured works are "Mainspring" (1965), the largest of the transfer drawings, and selections from the artist's own collection.

Genres: Art

152 pages, Paperback

First published April 28, 2007

Reviews

[BespectacledBookGirl]

If you think cardboard can't be beautiful, you need to spend some quality time with Robert Rauschenberg. Clearly this book fills a needed gap in both the study of Rauschenberg's career and the transition from the 1960s to 1970s in American art history, and if you've read/studied the New York School movement at all, this--at least to me--caused a whole bunch of revelations about the realization of the 2nd generation's approach to zen/art/chance/silence/universality of media. I found the essays digestible but a little scattered, but the cardboards...yeah, breathtaking. Makes me want to go tear apart some boxes and revel at the magnitude that was the 1960s/70s New York art scene.