Robert Rauschenberg; Visual Autobiography; Offset Lithograph in 3 Parts; 1968; 66" x 48" (each sheet); Framed; $8,500
I am proud to offer this monumental triptych by Robert Rauschenberg from 1968. Rauschenberg (1925 - 2008) completed this work when he was 43 years old and it is considered a summation that brings together the life and work of the artist.
Rauschenberg originally conceived this as a piece that would hang vertically, but with each panel measuring more than five feet high this obviously was quite challenging for both collectors and institutions. The picture below shows the dapper artist on a ladder at the Whitney Museum where Visual Autobiography was first exhibited in 1968.
Autobiography was the first fine art print produced on a billboard press by Broadside Art, Inc., a company Rauschenberg cofounded with the support of Marion Javits, wife of New York Senator Jacob Javits. The images and forms in the three panels are all related because they address themes integral to Rauschenberg's identity. The first panel includes a near life-sized X ray of the artist (an image he first used in 1967), the second panel appears to be an abstracted fingerprint made of text referencing previous collaborations, while the third panel is dominated by an image of the artist on roller skates from his seminal performance of 1963, Pelican.
The example offered here presents each panel individually framed. To purchase this artwork please visit this page on my website. For additional information or to arrange for a private viewing, please email me here.