Robert Rauschenberg

Galerie Rudolf Zwirner, Cologne
Helga and Walther Lauffs, Germany (acquired in February 1971)
Sotheby's, New York, May 14, 2008, Lot 47 (consigned by the above)
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Krefeld, Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Sammlung Helga und Walther Lauffs - Amerikanische und europäische Kunst der sechziger und siebziger Jahre, November 1983 - April 1984, no. 281
New York, Richard L. Feigen & Co., Ray Johnson's Art World, November 2014 - January 2015

This work is in excellent condition. The irregular edges of the hand-cut sheet are inherent. There is a soft arced crease, approximately 3 inches in length along the top edge toward the right corner, as well as another soft and small arced crease in the bottom left corner of the sheet. Various graphite smudges to the surface are likely inherent and date from the artist's studio. There is a very slight and unobtrusive undulation to the sheet inherent to the artist's process and choice of media. The sheet is hinged at intervals to ragboard and framed in a blonde wood frame under Plexiglas.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

As a preeminent example of Robert Rauschenberg’s important series of solvent transfer drawings, Red Body is a breathtaking homage to a seminal advance in the history of American painting. Bearing the ghostly traces of a striking selection of contemporary photographic images, combined with the gestural splendor and serendipitous dispersal of a luscious red wash, the artist displays a masterful combination of image making techniques.  Created in 1969 following a decade of profound experimentation in which the artist pushed the medium of painting across new boundaries, this work returns to the critical technical innovation which provided a catalyst not only to the revolutionary silkscreen paintings of Rauschenberg’s own career, but to an entire visual lexicon to be emulated by generations of proceeding artists. In Red Body a set of carefully selected photographs from disparate sources are appropriated as cultural signifiers and tamed amidst ethereal swathes of gouache, creating a composition that is simultaneously impassioned yet refined. Ignited by a sensuous rouge palette, encompassing a visual vocabulary that speaks pointedly to the experience of modern America, the epic Red Body embraces an engulfing cultural consciousness that revels in both beauty and menace.

Rauschenberg first explored image transfer techniques when visiting Cuba in 1952. It was not until 1958, however that the artist committed to the solvent transfer method. Garnering different outcomes depending on the ink type of the original painted source, Rauschenberg drew found images onto the surface of his own work by soaking the printed material in turpentine, placing it against a paper sheet and applying pressure across surface using a blunt object, leaving behind ghostly imprints. Growing in tandem with his other pioneering genre, the Combine, Rauschenberg juxtaposed disparate visual references, forging enigmatic links to color a picture of everyday American culture. Crucially the solvent transfers formed a technical precursor to the silkscreen paintings that Rauschenberg focused on from 1962 and through which he began “to escape the familiarity of objects & collage.” (the artist quoted in Dorothy Gees Seckler, "The Artist Speaks: Robert Rauschenberg", Art in America, 54, May-June 1966, p.81)  Created in 1968, Red Body triumphantly returns to a methodology that creates a reality unencumbered by corporeality, remaining in the purely cerebral realm of images. 

Rauschenberg’s imagery speaks of an "insistent contemporaneity." (Lawrence Alloway, "Rauschenberg’s Development" in Exh. Cat., Washington, D.C, National Collection of Fine Arts, Robert Rauschenberg, 1976, p. 16) The rush of a train, the thud of bass speakers coupled with a dislocated ear, perhaps the wheel of a car, the heads of the crowd and the graphic branding of a bottled product all meld in a stimulating haze that approaches an exquisite synesthesia. Like flashes of memory or a hypnotic dream, these postcard images converse in no certain language and interminably without a script. Generating a network of open-ended meanings, Rauschenberg refines the evocative poeticism of moments that bear personal associations but are also universally legible as cornerstones of modern leisure.

Red Body emphasizes the pressure lashes of the transfer method and embraces graphic vibrations.  The surface’s expressive energy is placed at odds with the naturalistic clarity of the photographic source. As such, Rauschenberg creates a visual allegory of his relative position within the dominant aesthetic schools of his era and subsequently the meta-narrative of art history. The flourishing movement of red that spills out in variegated intensities recalls the emotive gesture of Abstract Expressionist painters such as Jackson Pollock, Joan Mitchell and Sam Francis. Conversely, the use of photographic transfer itself points to Rauschenberg’s ties to pop art. Indeed it was in tandem with Andy Warhol that Rauschenberg incorporated industrial silkscreen printing methods into his practice in 1962.  However, with a treatment of surface that meanders between delicacy and paroxysm this vibrant work illustrates the artist’s unique mastery of the medium and his enduring position outside of the strict Pop-AbEx dichotomy. As noted by Roni Feinstein, “in his hands, a mechanical process ironically became malleable, sensitive and personal, open to improvisation and the touch and motion.” (Roni Feinstein, “The Silkscreen Paintings” in Exh. Cat., New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Robert Rauschenberg: The Silkscreen Paintings 1962-1964, 1990, p. 22)