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20th Century Art in 20 Unforgettable Works: Robert Rauschenberg’s ‘Sundog’
Incorporating newsmedia, advertisements and gestural painting, Rauschenberg’s ‘Sundog’ speaks to humankind’s plight and the awesome power of the space age.
Emily Fisher Landau was, simply put, one of the greatest collectors and patrons of the twentieth century. Her legacy is set apart for her deep and longstanding involvement with leading institutions, in particular the Whitney Museum of American Art, as well as her profound engagement with the art and artists of her time and her unerring instinct as a collector at the highest level. Fisher Landau assembled one of the greatest collections of modern and contemporary art – over 100 works of which are coming to auction at Sotheby’s on 8–9 November.
Join us over the next 20 days leading up to the Emily Fisher Landau Evening Auction on 8 November as our specialists spotlight 20 key works from the Collection, celebrating their impact on twentieth-century art. Here, Haleigh Stoddard reflects on the significance of Robert Rauschenberg’s Sundog as part of our series The Emily Fisher Landau Collection: Twentieth Century Art in Twenty Unforgettable Works.
Robert Rauschenberg’s ‘Sundog’
Broadcasting an entrancing cacophony of visual stimuli across its rich surface, Sundog from 1962 is an indisputable testament to Robert Rauschenberg’s voracious creativity. The present work is one of the very first in a series of black-and-white silkscreens that Rauschenberg began in October 1962, having recently moved into a spacious new studio in Lower Manhattan. Sundog deploys his radical new method to powerful effect, juxtaposing a variety of images and gestures into a distinctly contemporary brand of collage.
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- It Centers around a Photograph of Satellite Engineers
The dominant screened image, taken from a Life magazine photograph, depicts engineers working on a satellite. Rauschenberg’s fascination with the imagery of the “space age” appears and reappears throughout his silkscreen paintings from the 60s; unlike the pervading narrative in the press at the time, which positioned space exploration as a unique condition in human history, Rauschenberg emphasized the historical connections between old and new technology, underlining the enterprise as one stage in a continuous human drive to learn and explore the unknown.
- The Coarse Brushwork Evokes Abstract Expressionism
Balancing the crisp, mechanical imagery of these screened images, Rauschenberg adds a further contrast with his coarse, gestural brushstrokes. His most lavish, painterly brushwork is visible in the upper right quadrant, where emphatic black, grey, and white strokes evoke the spontaneous gestures of the Abstract Expressionists.
Willem de Kooning, Painting, 1948. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Image: Art Resource, NY. Art © 2023 The Willem de Kooning Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York - A ‘Sundog’ Is an Optical Phenomenon of Sunlight
Taking its title from the natural occurrence of the same name, in which colored spots of light appear on either side of the sun; caused by the refraction of light through ice crystals, this scientific phenomenon has myriad mythical, historical, and superstitious associations. Rauschenberg’s use of the term underlines his interest in creating connections across eras, belief systems and media.
Cy Twombly, Synopsis of a Battle, 1968. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. Art © 2023 Cy Twombly Foundation - It Featured in the Artist’s Manifesto
Demonstrating its importance, Sundog was notably illustrated on the cover of “Random Order,” a manifesto published by Rauschenberg in Location magazine shortly after the completion of his first series of silkscreen paintings; the project illustrated Rauschenberg’s interest in finding connections among the disparate events of daily life, establishing the crucial conceptual foundation that would define his entire career.
- Like Warhol’s Silkscreens, It Comments on Mass Media
In September 1962, the year in which the present work was painted, Rauschenberg visited Andy Warhol’s studio with Ileana and Michael Sonnabend just as Warhol was experimenting with the silkscreen method himself. Both artists shared an affinity for imagery culled from popular culture and mass media, as well as the flatness of the silkscreen process.
By incorporating into the realm of fine art a method of image-making previously confined to the domain of commercial advertising, these two giants of the 20th century forever shifted the dynamic of painterly discourse within the canon of art history.
- It Deals with Themes of Technology, Flight and Media
This billowing plume of smoke implies both a rocket blast-off and an atomic cloud. The source image is taken from an American Airlines advertisement in the 24 September 1962 issue of Newsweek, underlining the artist’s interest in advancing technology and flight. By removing the photograph from its context, Rauschenberg creates the possibility for myriad interpretations.
