Oral history interview with Robert Rauschenberg
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 2 sound tapes. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 58 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008
label: Interviewer
content: Seckler, Dorothy Gees, 1910-1994
label: Names
content: Amsterdam (Netherlands). Stedelijk Museum
label: Names
content: Albers, Josef
label: Names
content: Callahan, Harry M.
label: Names
content: De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997
label: Names
content: Kline, Franz, 1910-1962
label: Names
content: Reinhardt, Ad, 1913-1967
label: Names
content: Tworkov, Jack
topic: label: Topic
content: Abstract expressionism
label: Topic
content: Art, American
label: Topic
content: Illustrators -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Photographers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Pop art
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008
label: Interviewer
content: Seckler, Dorothy Gees, 1910-1994
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) was a painter and photographer from New York, N.Y.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 31 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1965 Dec. 21
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.rausch65
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Robert Rauschenberg conducted 1965 Dec. 21, by Dorothy Seckler, for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: In this interview Rauschenberg speaks of his role as a bridge from the Abstract Expressionists to the Pop artists; the relationship of affluence and art; his admiration for de Kooning, Jack Tworkov, and Franz Kline; the support he received from musicians Morton Feldman, John Cage, and Earl Brown; his goal to create work which serves as unbiased documentation of his observations; the irrational juxtaposition that makes up a city, and the importance of that element in his work; the facsimile quality of painting and consequent limitations; the influence of Albers' teaching and his resulting inability to do work focusing on pain, struggle, or torture; the 'lifetime' of painting and the problems of time relative symbolism; his feelings on the possibility of truly simulating chance in his work; his use of intervals, and its possible relation to the influence of Cage; his attempt to show as much drama on the edges of a piece as in the dead center; his belief in the importance of being stylistically flexible throughout a career; his involvement with the Stadtlijk Museum; his loss of interest in sculpture; his belief in the mixing of technology and aesthetics; his interest in moving to the country and the prospect of working with water, wind, sun, rain, and flowers; Ad Reinhardt's remarks on his Egan Show; his discontinuation of silk screens; his illustrations for Life Magazine; his role as a non-political artist; his struggles with abstraction; his recent theater work "Map Room Two;" his white paintings; and his disapproval of value hierarchy in art.