Robert Rauschenberg

Bradley Jeffries, Florida (acquired as a gift from the artist)

Acquired by descent from the above by the present owner

Fort Myers, Florida Southwestern State College, Bob Rauschenberg Gallery; Lexington, University of Kentucky Art Museum and Asheville, Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, Rauschenberg: A Gift in Your Pocket from the Collections of Friends in Honor of Bradley Jeffries, April 2022 - May 2023, n.p., illustrated in color

Featuring a juxtaposition of paper reproductions surrounded by a syncopated grid of vibrant color blocks, the present work hung in Robert Rauschenberg's Captiva, Florida office for many years before the artist gifted it to his devoted office manager and friend, Bradley Jeffries.

For over thirty years, Bradley served as Rauschenberg’s right-hand woman and trusted confidant. Hired in the late 1970s as the artist’s business and life manager in Captiva Island, Bradley’s multifaceted work with the artist encompassed not only managing his dynamic office operations during an epoch in which he was working prolifically and exhibiting globally, but also spearheading Change Inc., Rauschenberg’s initiative to provide emergency grants for living artists, which aided thousands of artists over its four-decade span. Described by friends and colleagues as “the lynchpin,” and “the guardian at the gates” to Rauschenberg’s office operations, she was known as the person who “kept it all together,” freeing him to focus wholeheartedly on his artistic practice. Following the artist’s 2008 passing, Bradley remained committed to both stewarding Rauschenberg’s enduring artistic legacy and ensuring his devotion for supporting artists and championing art as a catalyst for positive social change lived on through her leadership on the Rauschenberg Foundation Board of Directors.