The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma presents Robert Rauschenberg: Prints from Universal Limited Art Editions, 1962-2008, on view Oct 1-Dec 30, 2011.
As excitement builds for the opening of the new Stuart Wing at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma this fall, the museum debuts a new exhibition of modern art. Robert Rauschenberg: Prints from Universal Limited Art Editions, 1962-2008 opens at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30, at the museum. A guest lecture by Mary Lynn Kotz, biographer and author of Rauschenberg: Art and Life (2004, Harry N. Abrams, Inc.) will precede the opening reception at 6 p.m.
Following the lecture, choreographers Derrick Minter and Lieneke Mous will present a special dance inspired by works in the exhibition and performed by OU School of Dance students during the opening reception.
The exhibition examines the extensive collaboration between Rauschenberg and the fine art print publisher, Universal Limited Art Editions. Together, artist and publisher helped redefine printmaking through an extensive experimentation with the medium, and the results contributed significantly to the history of modern art in the United States. The exhibition provides a thorough survey of that relationship, from the first year of their collaboration in 1962 to Rauschenberg’s final series, Lotus, produced in 2008, the year of his death.
“The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is very privileged to be the home of many important works of art, due to the generosity of collectors like Mrs. Sash Spencer,” said Ghislain d’Humières, director of the museum. “I would also like to thank Bill Goldston, director of ULAE, for his support of art and education in Oklahoma and for making this exhibition possible.
“From June’s reinstallation of contemporary and modern art to this fall’s Rauschenberg exhibition, everything is leading up to the big opening of the new Stuart Wing in October. Exciting times definitely are ahead of us.”
Rauschenberg was born in Port Arthur, Texas, in 1925. In 1948, he attended Black Mountain College in North Carolina, where he met musician John Cage and dancer Merce Cunningham. The two not only informed Rauschenberg’s work but often provided him with a public forum for his experimentation in the coming years. For instance, a collaboration with Cage offered Rauschenberg the opportunity to develop his first combine, an assemblage of painting and found objects that both challenged distinctions between painting and sculpture and blurred the boundaries between art and everyday life.
The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is located in the OU Arts District on the corner of Elm Avenue and Boyd Street, at 555 Elm Ave., on the OU Norman campus.
www.ou.edu
Image: Robert Rauschenberg (U.S., 1925-2008) Soviet American Array VII, 1991 Intaglio in 14 colors, 79 x 511⁄4 in. Edition 55 Published by Universal Limited Art Editions
