WITNESS - SPECULATIONS, 1996
Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) attended the Kansas City Art Institute (1947-1948) and Academie Julien in Paris (1948) before traveling to North Carolina to study at Black Mountain College with Joseph Albers (1948-1949). While at Black Mountain College he met and was strongly influenced by the interdisciplinary approaches of fellow students John Cage, Merce Cunningham, and David Tudor. Moving to New York in 1949, Rauschenberg studied at the Art Students League (1949-1952); in 1953 he met Jasper Johns, initiating a long and productive creative friendship.
Retrospective or survey exhibitions of his art have been organized by many museums, including Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum (1968), the Smithsonian Institution (1976), the Menil Collection (1991), the National Gallery of Art (1991), and the Guggenheim Museum (1997). Throughout his career Rauschenberg has embraced technological, conceptual, or stylistic innovation. His works in a wide number of static and performance-based media have been widely exhibited.
