Art Talk: Robert Rauschenberg – Mattatuck Museum

Eckert Fine Art gallery owner Jane Eckert will deliver a talk on Robert Rauschenberg and share stories of her friendship with the artist during their years as neighbors on Captiva Island. The talk will be held in the gallery displaying the recently acquired Ruminations suite. Tea and scones will be served.

Presented in conjunction with Ruminations: Robert Rauschenberg. Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) is an American Modern Master and is celebrated as a forerunner of the Pop Art movement. Rauschenberg was engaged with the print medium since the early 1960s, and with Jasper Johns, is identified as starting the contemporary print renaissance. Rauschenberg’s work incorporates found objects with expressionist painting, a reflection of his philosophy that art and life should meld. There was no object or material beyond consideration for artmaking, as demonstrated in his iconic works such as Bed (1955) and Monogram (1958), in which he used old bed coverings and a stuffed goat, respectively. In this group of intaglio etchings, Ruminations, Rauschenberg used found photographs and other images from popular culture. This series is autobiographical, but because Rauschenberg was such an important figure in the art world from the 1950s onward, his biography also reflects the important figures and events of that world. One scene features Rauschenberg’s gallerist, Leo Castelli, the New York art dealer who played an extraordinary role in shaping contemporary American art and fostering international acceptance of painters like Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein and Frank Stella. Other prints include images of important figures and events such as Cy Twombly, Ileana Sonnebend and Tanya Grossman. On view through January 28, 2018.