Arcanum VI from the series Arcanum I-XIII
Robert Rauschenberg
American, 1925–2008
1981
A layered screenprint with silk collage and watercolor additions in which Rauschenberg assembles faded photographs, devotional imagery, and everyday objects into an associative montage that collapses memory and media into a single, enigmatic image.
The work hits you with a warm, amber palette and a softly rendered bearded face set within overlapping rectangular fragments—bottles, mechanical shapes, and translucent blocks—that read like glimpses of memories, while a bright orange strip along the bottom grounds the composition.
Part of Rauschenberg’s Arcanum series, this piece continues his 'combine' strategy—melding print, collage, and painting—to blur distinctions between found imagery and fine art and to expand the expressive possibilities of printmaking.
Medium
Screenprint with silk collage and watercolor additions
Dimensions
composition (irreg.): 22 7/8 x 15 3/4" (58.1 x 40 cm); sheet (irreg.): 22 7/8 x 15 3/4" (58.1 x 40 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Styria Studio, Inc.
Accession
468.1982
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
