The Lithographs of Robert Rauschenberg Öffentlichkeit

Brown, Sienna Elizabeth (2010)

Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/4f16c2920?locale=de
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Abstract

Abstract


The Lithographs of Robert Rauschenberg
By Sienna Elizabeth Brown


Robert Rauschenberg was one of the foremost artists of the twentieth-century and
created hundreds of works in a variety of media. This dissertation posits a unifying
principle for the far-reaching work made by the artist. This new cohesive idea is termed
"the logic of printmaking." In the logic of printmaking three ideas are combined: the
index, the flatbed picture plane, and the paired terms of repetition and seriality.
Printmaking forms the basis for the analysis for two reasons. One, it is in printmaking,
both Rauschenberg's early experimental prints and his lithographs, that this logic is most
evident and most flexible; and two, the index, flatbed, repetition, and seriality are each an
intrinsic quality of lithography and can be seen together in Rauschenberg's work.


The three strands of the logic come from specific thinkers. The index is
understood through the work of Charles Saunders Pierce, Rosalind Krauss, and the
linguist Albert Atkin. Leo Steinberg proposed the flatbed picture plane in 1972 and it is a
painting surface that is horizontal in orientation and is therefore inherently flat. Gilles
Deleuze and his idea of repetition in which difference is inherent best illuminate the type
of repeating performed in Rauschenberg's work. Artistic practices that use the serial are
best understood through the work of Mel Bochner.


Chapter One, explores Rauschenberg's early work to show how the three ideas
(index, flatbed, and repetition) work together as coherent logic of printmaking. Chapter
Two addresses the first 8 years of Rauschenberg's lithographic production and the
manifestation of this principle in these works. The final chapter covers the work made
between 1970-2008. Although the artist's aesthetics changed later in his career, the logic
of printmaking can still be seen as a defining element of his art. Appendix I provides a
brief history of lithography and its more technical aspects. Appendix II is a catalogue of
all 293 limited edition lithographs Rauschenberg produced.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents Introduction The "Why?" of the Logic of Printmaking…………………………………. 1 Chapter One The Logic of Printmaking in Early Rauschenberg………………………… 13 Chapter Two Lithography and Painting from 1962-1970………………………………… 53 Chapter Three Later Lithographs and Paintings…………………………………………… 107 Conclusion The Logic of Printmaking after Rauschenberg……………………………. 153 Appendix I The History and Mechanics of Lithography………………………………. 158 Appendix II Rauschenberg's Limited Edition Lithographs…………………………….. 165 Bibliography………………………………………………………………. 752 Figures……………………………………………………………………...756

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