Résumé

"Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) was a breaker of boundaries and a consummate collaborator He used silkscreen prints to reflect on American promise and failure melded sculpture and painting in works called combines and collaborated with engineers and scientists to challenge our thinking about art Through collaborations with John Cage Merce Cunningham and others Rauschenberg bridged the music dance and visualart worlds inventing a new art for the last half of the twentieth century Robert Rauschenberg is a work of collaborative oral biography that tells the story of one of the twentieth century's great artists through a series of interviews with key figures in his lifefamily friends former lovers professional associates studio assistants and collaborators The oral historian Sara Sinclair artfully puts the narrators' reminiscences in conversation with a focus on the relationship between Rauschenberg's intense social life and his art The book opens with a prologue by Rauschenberg's sister and then shifts to New York City's 1950s and '60s art scene populated by the luminaries of abstract expressionism It follows Rauschenberg's eventual move to Florida's Captiva Island and his trips across the globe illuminating his inner life and its effect on his and others' art The narrators share their views on Rauschenberg's work explore the curatorial thinking behind exhibitions of his art and reflect on the impact of the influx of money into the contemporary art market Included are artists famous in the own right such as Laurie Anderson and Brice Marden as well as artworld insiders and lesserknown figures who were part of Rauschenberg's inner circle"