The Mattatuck Museum will honor the centennial of Robert Rauschenberg, one of the most influential American artists of the 20th century, with “Ruminations: Rauschenberg at 100,” running Sept. 28 through Dec. 7.
Monumental in scale and deeply personal in tone, “Ruminations” reflects on the people who shaped Rauschenberg’s early life and career. Created in the late 1990s, they consist of photogravures layers, photographs, handwritten notes and collage-like compositions. Together, they offer “an intimate glimpse into the artist’s creative journey,” according to a museum news release.
Rauschenberg is celebrated for his “Combines” in which he mixed an amalgam of ordinary daily objects into art making. As he wrote, “I consider the text of a newspaper, the detail of photograph, the stitch in a baseball, and the filament in a light bulb as fundamental to the painting as brush stroke or enamel drip of paint.”
“In Bed” for example, he covered a large wall-mounted board with a pillow and patchwork quilt which he then marked with graphite scrawls and exuberant lashings of paint, the latter perhaps an ironic nod to Abstract Expressionism.
Rauschenberg was a groundbreaking force in 20th-century American art, known for dissolving boundaries between mediums and movements. Emerging during the rise of Abstract Expressionism, he forged a distinctive path, embracing what he called “an art of fusion” or a radical intertwining of painting, photography, performance, sculpture and printmaking. Best known for breaking boundaries between painting, photography, sculpture, performance and printmaking, Rauschenberg reshaped the landscape of postwar art, according to a museum news release.
“His fearless experimentation helped define major movements including Neo-Dada, Pop Art, and Conceptual Art. With ‘Ruminations,’ audiences encounter a more reflective side of the artist- one that pays tribute to the mentors, collaborators and companions who inspired him,” according to the release.
An opening celebration will be held Oct. 12 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with remarks at 4 p.m.
Admission for the day will be reduced to $5.
The Mattatuck Museum is at 144 West Main St., Waterbury. For more information, visit mattmuseum.org.