Opis
Iconoclastic, generous, inventive, impulsive, sensitive, gregarious, prodigious, always amazing – these are just some of the words to describe Robert Rauschenberg and the art he has been making for the past 40 years. In this book – the only fully illustrated account of his life prepared with his full cooperation – we come face to face with Rauschenberg, one of the towering artists of the twentieth century.
The reader travels along the crazy odyssey that is Rauschenberg’s life, beginning with his childhood in the oil town of Port Arthur, Texas, his unhappy experience in the navy, and his eventual decision to pursue a life in art. We follow him to Black Mountain College, where he studies under the stern but brilliant Josef Albers, and becomes friendly with Merce Cunningham and John Cage; to New York and classes at the Art Students League; We are told of his early marriage to Susan Weil, his friendships with Jasper Johns, Cy Twombly, and encouragement from dealers Betty Parsons, Leo Castelli, and Ileana Sonnabend; and of roundtable drinking sessions with such artists as De Kooning and Pollock at the legendary Cedar Tavern in Greenwich village.