Robert Rauschenberg: Breaking Boundaries [Hardcover]

Robert Saltonstall Mattison (Author), Robert Rauschenberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2003

Robert Rauschenberg is one of the most prolific and best-known artists of the post-war period, whose work, ranging across a number of disciplines, has influenced avant-garde art since the 1950s. Rauschenberg has allowed Robert Mattison into his studio to observe the artist at work and this resulting work examines selected projects in depth so that the meaning of his art, his working procedures, and the reasons behind his various artistic choices may be better understood. The text covers the influence of urbanism on Rauschenberg's "Combine" paintings of the 1950s and explores his involvement with the "space race" during the 1960s and 1970s, relating his works to popular culture and demonstrating the development of his ideas about the peaceful exploration of space. Mattison examines Rauschenberg's extensive involvement in the performing arts, tracing his connections to avant-garde dance in America, addressing his own performances, and focusing on his work with the well-known choreographer Trisha Brown. The final chapter examines Rauschenberg's most extensive artistic undertaking, the Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange (ROCI). One venue of this seven-year and 11-country project was Chile, which Rauschenberg visited while the country was under the rule of the dictator, Augusto Pinochet. The author shows how in dangerous political circumstances Rauschenberg was able to execute and exhibit works critical of the government. Widely illustrated with Rauschenberg's works and photographs of the artist in performance and in the studio, the mixture of the visual arts, politics, technology, dance and urban theory, among other issues, covered in this study should make it suitable for a wide audience.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Rauschenberg has been so prolific that few critics have a handle on his vast output or the sensibility and ideas behind it. Enter intrepid art historian Mattison, who observes Rauschenberg hard at work in his enormous, immaculate, high-tech Florida studio, where this master of intuition and spontaneity, who is actually as organized and efficient as an emergency room physician, works with a crew of energetic assistants at a breathless pace. Collaborations and an atmosphere conducive to the unexpected are crucial to Rauschenberg's "unfettered creativity," Mattison realizes, and the juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated images that characterize Rauschenberg's work reflects his keen interest in the flux and multifariousness of life. Mattison also analyzes Rauschenberg's 20-year collaboration with choreographer Trisha Brown, parses Rauschenberg's attunement to urban life and fascination with space exploration, ponders the aesthetic implications of the artist's dyslexia, and chronicles Rauschenberg's wildly ambitious and highly controversial project entailing travel to and the making and exhibiting of art in 11 countries. Mattison's unique approach greatly enhances our appreciation for this taken-for-granted artist and his phenomenally complex art. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Robert S. Mattison, the Marshall R. Metzgar Professor of Art History at Lafayette College in the United States, is the author of three books and over fifty articles and exhibition catalogues on modern art. Fascinated by the creative process and evolution of artists' ideas, he has spent time throughout his career with practising artists in order to write about them and organise exhibitions of their work.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 284 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (September 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300099312
• ISBN-13: 978-0300099317
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 11.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,905,097 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A decent effort August 3, 2006

By Steve

Format:Hardcover

This study of Rauschenberg is a good source of biographical information, and will be useful to those new to the artist's work, but for those wanting to pursue the more complex theoretical implications of Rauschenberg's practice, they would be advised to look elsewhere. This is because Mattison's study takes the form of a relatively conventional monograph, and it doesnt really pay much attention to some of the most interesting literature on the artist by scholars like Leo Steinberg or Rosalind Krauss. Furthermore, it treats Rauschenberg as though he were a canonised "Old Master"- this is obvious from the introduction, where Mattison treats us to a detailed description of the artist's custom-built studio in Florida- the implication being that Rauschenberg is a kind of modern-day Rubens, turning out masterpieces with the help of his eager assistants. However, Rauschenberg's work (especially his early, seminal work), seriously calls into question notions of genius, authenticity, originality, and the like- all those sacred cows of art history. But Mattison avoids these thorny questions, mainly because I think that the book is aimed at a more mainstream audience.

There is some interesting stuff here- the section on Rauschenberg's dyslexia, and how it could help us shed light on his silkscreen printing, was good, as was the section on the development of "lateral thinking" in psychology, which was contemporaneous with Rauschenberg's emergence, and ties in nicely with some of his concerns, i.e. getting away from fixed, preconceived ideas and logical (or "vertical") thinking. Also, the section on New York's urban development in the late 50s was also enlightening with regard to Rauschenberg's combines from that time. There is also a lot of information about the artist's "Stoned Moon" book, produced during his trip to Cape Canaveral in 1969.

Overall, though, its a book to sift information from, rather than to sit down and enjoy- its relatively conventional nature means that its not an especially exciting read, although those new to the artist (and art history generally) may think differently.