Rauschenberg, Robert, b. 1925

Assemblage artist, Collagist, Painter, Printmaker
New York, N.Y. (Show Bio)

Robert Rauschenberg interview, 1965 Dec. 21

Sound recordings: 2 sound tapes (1 hour, 45 min.) ; 5 in.
Sound recordings, duplicate: 2 compact discs Transcript: 43 p.

An interview of Robert Rauschenberg conducted by Dorothy Seckler on December 21, 1965 for the Archives of American Art.

In this interview Rauschenberg speaks of his role as a bridge from the Abstract Expressionists to the Pop artists; the relationship of affluence and art; his admiration for de Kooning, Jack Tworkov, and Franz Kline; the support he received from musicians Morton Feldman, John Cage, and Earl Brown; his goal to create work which serves as unbiased documentation of his observations; the irrational juxtaposition that makes up a city, and the importance of that element in his work; the facsimile quality of painting and consequent limitations; the influence of Albers' teaching and his resulting inability to do work focusing on pain, struggle, or torture; the 'lifetime' of painting and the problems of time relative symbolism;

his feelings on the possibility of truly simulating chance in his work; his use of intervals, and its possible relation to the influence of Cage; his attempt to show as much drama on the edges of a piece as in the dead center; his belief in the importance of being stylistically flexible throughout a career; his involvement with the Stadtlijk Museum; his loss of interest in sculpture; his belief in the mixing of technology and aesthetics; his interest in moving to the country and the prospect of working with water, wind, sun, rain, and flowers; Ad Reinhardt's remarks on his Egan Show; his discontinuation of silk screens; his illustrations for Life Magazine; his role as a non-political artist; his struggles with abstraction; his recent theater work "Map Room Two;" his white paintings; and his disapproval of value hierarchy in art.

These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.

How to Use this Interview

• Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
• Transcript available on line at http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/transcripts/rausch65.htm
• A transcript of this interview is available online.
• A sound excerpt is available online
• For more information on using resources at the Archives of American Art, please visit our Ask Us page