Robert Rauschenberg

Acquired directly from the artist

New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Washington, D.C., The Corcoran Gallery of Art; Houston, The Menil Collection; Chicago, The Museum of Contemporary Art; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Robert Rauschenberg: The Early 1950s, June 1991 - January 1993, cat. no. 138, p. 212, illustrated in color
New York, Peter Freeman, Inc.; San Francisco, Jeffrey Fraenkel Gallery, Inc., Nothing and Everything, September 2006 - January 2007, n.p., illustrated in color

This work is in good condition overall. There is evidence of wear and age to the wood frame, including some chips and holes to the wood. The clay has craquelure throughout and some spots of loss, which are visible in the catalogue illustration, but all cracks appear stable. The tonality and texture of the clay is varied, which appears inherent to the natural drying and aging process of the clay.
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.

Robert Rauschenberg and the Paul Taylor Dance Company

For Robert Rauschenberg, one of the most radical innovators among a phenomenally creative generation of young artists who started their careers in the 1950s, dance was a great and singular passion. Indeed, although his early ambition growing up in Port Arthur, Texas was to become a preacher, he conclusively decided against it when he realized that the specific church to which his family belonged forbid dancing, and that this would therefore make an impossible vocation. At the beginning of 1954, he was exhibiting at the Stable Gallery in New York when he met for the first time the esteemed dancer and choreographer Paul Taylor, who had recently left the Merce Cunningham Dance Company to form his own company. During that first exhibition, Taylor spotted Pink Clay Painting (to Pete) among the various gallery detritus, which Rauschenberg gifted and dedicated to Taylor. This work, presented as lot 160, is the only surviving example of Rauschenberg's clay paintings, and this became the first work Paul Taylor owned by Rauschenberg.  

Later that year Rauschenberg began work as a set and costume designer for the Paul Taylor Dance Company, while Taylor assisted the artist with commercial window displays, which Rauschenberg created for Bonwit Teller and Tiffany & Co. with his friend and occasional business partner Jasper Johns. Rauschenberg subsequently designed the sets and costumes for a number of productions by the Paul Taylor Dance Company from the mid-1950s. This significant record of achievement can only be described as a spectacular artistic collaboration that traversed conventional notions of boundaries between different art forms and media. Together Rauschenberg and Taylor pioneered a new synthesis of visual art, performance, dance and music to create an enduring legacy of groundbreaking work. The remarkable group of works by Rauschenberg on offer from the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Pink Clay Painting (to Pete) and Untitled from 1994 (lot 161) in the Contemporary Art Day Sale, as well as Combine from 1954 and Tracer from 1962 in the Contemporary Art Evening Sale, stand as testament to this phenomenal creative partnership.