Urban

1962

Robert Rauschenberg

Artist, American, 1925 - 2008

Printed in black and white on tan paper, at first glance this vertical print seems to be a collection of abstract smudges and shapes collected in a cloud at the center of the composition. Upon closer inspection, identifiable forms and images emerge, including a vertical strip of photographs showing players on a baseball field at the top center, a baseball scoreboard printed twice in reverse near the bottom right and in the lower center, and a leaf near the lower left. Two portraits showing the head and shoulders of men seem to be printed in negative, so the lights and darks are reversed. One portrait floats near the upper left and the second, of John Kennedy, floats near the center of the left edge of the mass. Smears and marks like brushstrokes fill in the space around the recognizable images. The artist signed and dated the work in the lower right corner, “3/38 Rauschenberg 1962.”
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Artwork overview


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Woodward Foundation, Washington, D.C.; acquired 1976 by the National Gallery of Art

Associated Names

Bibliography

1970

  • Foster, Edward A. Robert Rauschenberg: Prints 1948/1970. Minnesota: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1970, no. 6.

Inscriptions

lower right in graphite: 3/38 Rauschenberg 1962

Markings

embossed lower left: ULAE

Wikidata ID

Q65576810


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