Robert Rauschenberg Retrospective at Tate Modern

A major retrospective of Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008) opened at Tate Modern in London, running until April 2, 2016. Curated by Achim Borchardt-Hume, Leah Dickerman, and Catherine Wood, the exhibition traces the artist's career from his early days at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, where he studied alongside Josef Albers and Walter Gropius and met John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Cy Twombly, and Jasper Johns. The show features iconic works from the 1950s, such as Untitled (Double Rauschenberg) (c. 1950), a double body impression made with Susan Weil, and Automobile Tire Print (1953), created with John Cage. It includes his Combines—mixed-media works like Bed (1955) that incorporate everyday objects—and large silkscreen paintings from 1963–64 (Kite, Tracer, Estate, Retroactive II, Persimmon) that reflect American society under Kennedy, including the Vietnam War and consumerism. Rauschenberg won the painting prize at the 1964 Venice Biennale, the first American to do so, and subsequently destroyed his remaining silkscreens. The exhibition also highlights his performance work with Merce Cunningham, Billy Klüver, Steve Paxton, Yvonne Rainer, and Trisha Brown, including projects at Judson Dance Theater and the 1987 Naples performance Set and Reset. The Glut series (1986–89, 1991–94), inspired by the Texas oil crisis and Italian urban decay, uses scrap metal to critique consumer waste.