1954, Robert Rauschenberg, Collection -- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
From the museum label: "A pair of socks," Rauschenberg said, "is no less suitable to make a painting with than wood, nails, turpentine, oil, and fabric." Aptly titled, Collection presents an array of fabric scraps, newspaper clippings, wood blocks, and paint drips that Rauschenberg layered and collaged together in one vibrant composition. This work is among the first to be designated as a "Combine," a term the artist invented to describe the synthesis of painting and sculpture. Rauschenberg's egalitarian inclusion of comic strips, cigar boxes, and other urban detritus elevates the mundane to the realm of art, anticipating Pop artists' incorporation of everyday objects, such as Andy Warhol's soup cans, and mass-production techniques, such as Roy Lichtenstein's benday dots.
1954, Robert Rauschenberg, Collection -- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
From the museum label: "A pair of socks," Rauschenberg said, "is no less suitable to make a painting with than wood, nails, turpentine, oil, and fabric." Aptly titled, Collection presents an array of fabric scraps, newspaper clippings, wood blocks, and paint drips that Rauschenberg layered and collaged together in one vibrant composition. This work is among the first to be designated as a "Combine," a term the artist invented to describe the synthesis of painting and sculpture. Rauschenberg's egalitarian inclusion of comic strips, cigar boxes, and other urban detritus elevates the mundane to the realm of art, anticipating Pop artists' incorporation of everyday objects, such as Andy Warhol's soup cans, and mass-production techniques, such as Roy Lichtenstein's benday dots.