Robert Rauschenberg: Photographs 1949-1962

Robert Rauschenbergs engagement with photography began in the late 1940s under the tutelage of Aaron Siskind and Hazel Larsen Archer at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Their combined influence was so great that for a time Rauschenberg was unsure whether to pursue painting or photography as a career. Instead he chose both. This volume gathers and surveys Rauschenbergs numerous uses of photography for the first time. It includes portraits of friends, studio shots, photographs used in the Combines series, silkscreens, photographs of lost works and works in progress, allowing us to re-imagine almost the entirety of the artists work in light of his always inventive uses of photography, while also supplying previously unseen glimpses into his social nexus of the 1950s and 60s. Review `Portraits of friends such as Jasper Johns and Cy Twombly ... extraordinary studies of light and pattern' --The Sunday Telegraph `One of the best books I've seen all year.' --Black + White Photography `A convincing argument for placing this largely unsung facet of Rauschenberg's talent at the heart of his oeuvre' --Metro Author Bio Susan Davidson is Senior Curator, Collections & Exhibitions, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim, and is also aTrustee of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. DavidWhite was the curator for Robert Rauschenberg from 1980 until the artist's death in 2008, and continues in that capacity with his Estate.