Rebus
Robert Rauschenberg
American, 1925–2008
1955
A monumental mixed-media 'Combine' in which Rauschenberg layers oil and alkyd paint with pencil, crayon, pasted printed papers and fabric to assemble a kind of visual riddle that collapses art and everyday detritus into a single surface.
The first thing you notice is the broad, cardboard-colored three-panel ground crossed by a thin band of muted color swatches and dotted with pasted illustrations and a black-and-white cutout, all enlivened by smeared white gestures and streaking, dripping red and brown paint that feel both collaged and painterly.
Rebus is an early and influential Combine that helped dissolve the boundary between painting and object—elevating found images and materials into fine art and pointing toward Pop, Neo-Dada, and later mixed-media practices.
Medium
Oil, alkyd paint, pencil, crayon, pastel, cut-and-pasted printed and painted papers, and fabric on canvas mounted and stapled to fabric, three panels
Dimensions
8' x 10' 11 1/8" (243.8 x 333.1 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Partial and promised gift of Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder and bequest of Virginia C. Field, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Peter A. Rübel, and gift of Jay R. Braus (all by exchange)
Accession
243.2005.a-c
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
