First Landing Jump
Robert Rauschenberg
American, 1925–2008
1961
A large-scale “Combine” in which Robert Rauschenberg stitched together cloth, paint, metal fixtures, a license plate, an illuminated lamp, a wooden plank, and an automobile tire to bring discarded urban materials into the language of fine art and erase the boundary between painting and object.
At eye level it reads like a salvaged wall from the street—stained canvas and patched fabric, a white enamel lamp thrust forward, a striped post pierced by a hanging black tire, and a small greenish bulb punctuating the textured, worn surface.
This work is a signature example of Rauschenberg’s Combines, which expanded the possibilities of painting by integrating everyday detritus and electric light, opening a path toward Pop Art and subsequent mixed‑media practices that treated ordinary objects as carriers of meaning.
Medium
Cloth, metal, leather, electric fixture, cable, and oil paint on board, with automobile tire and wood plank
Dimensions
7' 5 1/8" x 6' x 8 7/8" (226.3 x 182.8 x 22.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Philip Johnson
Accession
434.1972
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
