Robert Rauschenberg: Star Quarters

April 09, 2010 - August 30, 2010

An installation on the main floor of the Cincinnati Art Museum, Robert Rauschenberg: Star Quarters was unveiled at the recent Museum event honoring Cincinnati-born Pop artist Jim Dine. Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008) United States, created the piece in 1971. It is a color photo screen print on both sides of mirror-coated Plexiglas, acquired by the Cincinnati Art Museum thanks to The Edwin and Virginia H. Irwin Memorial. Robert Rauschenberg defined a new era of American art beyond Abstract Expressionism when he initiated his conceptual work and large-scale collages ("combines") in the 1950s. Building on the legacies of Marcel Duchamp, Kurt Schwitters, Joseph Cornell and others, he helped obscure the lines between painting and sculpture, painting and photography, photography and printmaking. The experimental nature of his work is reflected in Star Quarters. This work was commissioned by Fortune Magazine in 1971. It was published by Multiples, Inc., in cooperation with Castelli Graphics, two of the most successful galleries in contemporary art at the time. The subject matter of Star Quarters is the heavens, viewed during the four seasons.