(Milton) Robert Rauschenberg, born 1925, was not your typical artist by any means. His style of art, defined as "pop" went beyond the norm in that it carried things from reality into unrealistic situations. His idea of abstract expressionism was often detested because it went against the grain so much. He showed Americans that all of life could be open to art. His style was formed around the artist Cornell's work who first developed it in the 40's.
Odalisk 1955-1958 (evolved spontaneously)
Oil, watercolor, pencil, fabric, paper, photographs, metal, glass,
Electric light fixtures, dried grass, steel wool, necktie,
on woodstructure with four wheels,
plus pillow and stuffed rooster.
83x25½x25½in.
He enlisted in the U.S. Navy where he spent the last part of World War II as a mental hospital nurse. It was after his discharge in 1945 that he decided to study art in Paris. At this point he studied under Josef Albers at Black Mountain College, North Carolina and then later at the Academie Julian in Paris. His stay in Paris was short because this middle class man felt too disoriented not being able to speak French in an already modernistic society. He considered Albers to be the most important teacher he ever had. From him he learned not so much style, but attitude. His technique grew so he became the most important painter in the establishment of American pop's vocabulary.
Rauchenberg's work promoted an unfocused openness to external events. His creation of "combine paintings" in the 1950's is a prime example. This is the artist's alternative to the term "assemblage," which he first introduced at an Egan Gallery exhibition. He did not set out to find objects by going to a junkyard because this would imply a predetermined theme. He would, instead, use objects that presented themselves while in the midst of his projects. He remains one of the most inventive and impressive of the American artists to emerge from abstract expressionism.
Resources:
www.benedict.com/visual/rausch/rauch.htm
www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/rauschenberg_robert.html
History of Modern Art, H. H. Arnason, 1977
Art Since 1940, Johnathan Fineberg, 1995
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