
© Robert Rauschenberg Foundation / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Robert Rauschenberg Foundation / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

© Robert Rauschenberg Foundation / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.



Robert Rauschenberg
American, 1925-2008
Painting with Red Letter S, 1957
oil, paper, printed paper, and fabric on canvas
support: 50 1/2 x 52 inches (128.27 x 132.08 cm); framed: 55 1/16 x 56 5/8 x 3 5/8 inches (139.86 x 143.83 x 9.21 cm)
Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1959
K1959:16
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Information may change due to ongoing research.Glossary of Terms
During the 1950s, Robert Rauschenberg began creating a series of works he called Combines. To the artist, no materials were off-limits when it came to making a painting, and his philosophy around the function and meaning of painting was radically different than that of his peers. He once said, “You can’t make either life or art, you have to work in the hole in between, which is undefined. That’s what makes the adventure of painting.” Rauschenberg’s practice was certainly adventurous. To create his Combine works—which are large in scale, often sculptural, and either freestanding or wall-mounted—he combined the gestural aspects of Abstract Expressionism with found materials and appropriated imagery he adhered to the canvas and sometimes painted over, revealing only their shapes or small areas of their surfaces. In Painting with Red Letter S, a mixture of found objects, such as fabric and a stenciled letter, merge to become a painting that is abstract, yet contains aspects of a real environment. This is a subtle example of a Rauschenberg Combine; he often introduced elements such as personal items, clothing, and even a pillow and a stuffed eagle. Rauschenberg’s radical approach, which balanced on the border between abstraction and “something new,” not only blurred the distinction between painting and sculpture, but also opened the door for a generation of Pop artists to further explore and expand on his reconnection of the role of the everyday in art.
Label from Sweet Dreams, Baby! Life of Pop, London to Warhol, May 31–September 8, 2013
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Other Works by This Artist
- The Leo Castelli 90th Birthday Portfolio ,
- Chow Bags ,
Glacial Decoy Series
,- Booster from the series Booster and Seven Studies ,
Support
,- Ark from the portfolio XXXIV Drawings for Dante's Inferno ,
- Stunt Man I from the series Stunt Man ,
- Ace ,
Etching III from the portfolio Glacial Decoy Series
,Etching I from the portfolio Glacial Decoy Series
,Medallion from the series Stoned Moon
,- Goat Chow from the portfolio Chow Bags ,
- Rabbit Chow from the portfolio Chow Bags ,
- Monkey Chow from the portfolio Chow Bags ,
- Hog Mineral from the portfolio Chow Bags ,
- Calf Startena from the portfolio Chow Bags ,
- Mink Chow from the portfolio Chow Bags ,
Etching V from the portfolio Glacial Decoy Series
,Etching IV from the portfolio Glacial Decoy Series
,Etching II from the portfolio Glacial Decoy Series
,- Untitled (Labor's Centennial) ,
- Autobiography ,
- Stunt Man I ,
- Front Roll ,
Deposit from the portfolio America: the third century
,No image available,
but we're working on itCaucus from The Leo Castelli 90th Birthday Portfolio
,No image available,
but we're working on itPoster for Rauschenberg exhibition at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery
,No image available,
but we're working on itTest Stone #6 from the series Booster and Seven Studies
,No image available,
but we're working on itUrban ,No image available,
but we're working on itShell from the series Stoned Moon
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