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In the early 1960s, Robert Rauschenberg dismissed long-held distinctions between painting and sculpture, and art and everyday life, by creating assemblages, or what he called “combines.” Here he loaded a plywood surface with paint, discarded cans, a piece of a life raft, and rusted metal shards. The meaning remains elusive and nonsensical, and the piece’s vague associations make traditional methods of art analysis useless. Yet, for all its deliberate disorder, the work achieves an unexpected balance and harmony, drawing fragments of our modern civilization into a singular object that celebrates chance and incongruity.

71.693

Details

  • Title: Wooden Gallop
  • Creator: Robert Rauschenberg
  • Creator Lifespan: 1925/2008
  • Creator Nationality: American
  • Creator Gender: Male
  • Creator Death Place: Captiva, FL
  • Creator Birth Place: Port Arthur, TX
  • Date: 1962/1962
  • Location Created: New York, United States
  • Provenance: Dwan Gallery, Los Angeles, Calif., 1963; University Art Museum, University of Texas, Austin, Exhibition Program; Bianchini-Birillo Gallery, New York; Ben Birillo sold it to Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, Mass., 1966; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to The Chrysler Museum, 1971.
  • Physical Dimensions: 49 × 49 1/2 × 10 3/4 in. (124.5 × 125.7 × 27.3 cm)
  • Credit Line: Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
  • Type: Combine; Sculpture
  • Rights: © Estate of Robert Rauschenberg / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
  • Medium: Mixed media on plywood

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