Drawings and Studies for “Currents” Exhibition Poster

© Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. Image licensed by Artist Rights Society (ARS).

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Artist/Maker Robert Rauschenberg (American, 1925 - 2008)

Date1970

MediumOffset lithograph

DimensionsSheet: 35 1/16 × 30 3/8 in. (89.1 × 77.2 cm) Frame: 39 3/4 × 35 1/2 × 2 in. (101 × 90.2 × 5.1 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Eland

Object number1992.19

Not on view

DescriptionAlthough Robert Rauschenberg studied art at the Kansas City Art Institute and in Paris after serving stateside in World War II, it was the years he spent with the likes of Josef Albers, Cy Twombly, and the choreographer Merce Cunningham at the avant-garde Black Mountain College in Asheville, North Carolina, from 1948 to 1952, that were central to his future as an artist. Rauschenberg began incorporating newspaper into his work as early as 1953, when he used it as the ground for many of his “black paintings.” He employed found printed imagery more frequently beginning in 1960, in his drawings for Dante’s Inferno, and continued to do so throughout the decade, as his work became more explicitly socially conscious. His art of the late 1960s often referred to the news of the day, including the war in Vietnam, the fight for civil rights, and political upheaval and assassinations. This poster is an offset lithograph based on a screenprint—itself based on a collage—from the “Currents” series of thirty-six screenprints, with additional text added to advertise the publication and exhibition of the series by Dayton’s Gallery 12 in Minneapolis, which commissioned the poster from the artist. The title “Currents” reflected the works’ focus on current events but also the strong currents that were pushing and pulling the country in unprecedented directions. Depicted are portions of articles on such subjects as President Richard Nixon’s political activities, the attack on the presidential palace in Manila, and the deaths of American teenagers from heroin taken from a variety of newspapers, including the New York Times and the Minneapolis Tribune, all dating to January and February 1970. The artist called the project the “most serious journalism I ever attempted.” This print, along with a second by Rauschenberg, was given to the Emerson Gallery in 1992 by Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Eland, P1995. (SOURCE: Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS, 2017) composite of newspaper articles and sketches

Collections

Additional Details

Alternate Titles Drawings and Studies for Currents

Exhibition History 2017
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College). "Innovative Approaches, Honored Traditions: The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Five Years, Highlights from the Permanent Collection," September 9 - December 10, 2017 (cat. no. 100, illus.);

2003-2004
Clinton, NY (Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "1968: YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION!," December 5, 2003-February 15, 2004 (unnumbered newspaper-style catalog);

1993
Clinton, NY (Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "Robert Rauschenberg and His Contemporaries: Works from the Collections of Martina Hamilton and Hamilton College," September 17 - October 31, 1993.

Provenance 1992: Hamilton College (Fred L. Emerson Gallery), by gift of Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Eland.

Published References Katherine D. Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS: THE RUTH AND ELMER WELLIN MUSEUM OF ART AT FIVE YEARS, HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION (Clinton, NY: Wellin Museum of Art, 2017), p. 222.

Signature Signed and dated "Rauschenberg 1970" at lower right center.

Inscribed Museum tag w/ artist, title, medium, credit line, and date on verso URC