Lotto 3644 - A217 Stampe e multipli - giovedì, 25. giugno 2026, 10h00
ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG
(Port Arthur 1925–2008 Captiva Island)
Ruminations. 1999.
Portfolio with 9 colour etchings. 13/46. Each signed and dated in pencil along the lower margin: RAUSCHENBERG 99. Varying image sizes on wove paper, min. 50 × 66 cm and max. 117 × 147 cm. Published and printed by Universal Limited Art Editions, West Islip (with the blind stamp).
Complete.
Complete.
Provenance:
- Galerie Jamileh Weber, Zürich.
- Private collection, Switzerland, acquired in the above gallery 2001 acquired.
Literature:
Universal Limited Art Editions, ulae.com/artists/robert-rauschenberg/.
Contained in this series are the depictions: Ace, Big and Little Bullys, Bubba’s Sister, Eagle Eye, Ileana, Jap, John, Tanya and ’topher.
The portfolio ‘Ruminations’, created between 1999 and 2000 by Robert Rauschenberg, belongs to the most personal bodies of work in his late oeuvre. Across nine sheets, the artist condenses photographic motifs from his own archive with newspaper clippings and textual fragments into multilayered image montages. These are less to be read as individual portraits in the traditional sense than as visual reflections on his familial, friendly and professional relationships. The title ‘Ruminations’, in the sense of contemplation or reflection, programmatically points to a retrospective and potentially self-questioning character of the series.
Indeed, the series can be understood as a kind of ‘social self-portrait’, in which Rauschenberg’s biography unfolds not linearly, but as an interwoven network of relationships. The sheets are loosely structured into thematic groups. A familial cluster includes ‘Bubba’s Sister’, referring to his sister Janis Rauschenberg, as well as ‘‘topher’, which alludes to his son Christopher Rauschenberg and his earlier marriage to Susan Weil. Particularly ambivalent is ‘Big and Little Bully’s’, which likely refers to the artist’s parents – a title suggesting a tense and unsentimental relationship.
A second focus is dedicated to key figures from his professional environment. ‘Tanya’ honours the printmaker Tatyana Grosman, whose workshop Universal Limited Art Editions played a decisive role in the development of his printmaking practice. ‘Ileana’ refers to the gallerist Ileana Sonnabend, who significantly contributed to the international recognition of his work.
A third group brings together artistic collaborators, including dancer Steve Paxton, ‘Ace’, as well as Jasper Johns, ‘Jap’, whose relationship with Rauschenberg was among the most productive and at the same time most intimate constellations of American post-war art. ‘John’ refers to composer John Cage, whose conceptualisation of chance and process deeply influenced Rauschenberg’s work.
In sheets such as ‘Eagle Eye’, however, the reference remains deliberately open, oscillating between concrete person, memory and metaphor.
It is precisely in this tension between designation and indeterminacy that the particular quality of the series lies. Despite their apparent directness, the works resist unambiguous attribution and interpretation. They can appear almost confessional at times, without lapsing into mere sentimentality; rather, Rauschenberg succeeds in articulating personal proximity and critical distance simultaneously. The use of his own photographs intensifies the impression of an inner archive being opened here for the first time in such explicit form.
Created shortly before the artist’s 75th birthday, ‘Ruminations’ can be read as a small, personal retrospective – a quiet, multifaceted account of a practice consistently shaped by fusion, collaboration and inventive creativity.
The portfolio ‘Ruminations’, created between 1999 and 2000 by Robert Rauschenberg, belongs to the most personal bodies of work in his late oeuvre. Across nine sheets, the artist condenses photographic motifs from his own archive with newspaper clippings and textual fragments into multilayered image montages. These are less to be read as individual portraits in the traditional sense than as visual reflections on his familial, friendly and professional relationships. The title ‘Ruminations’, in the sense of contemplation or reflection, programmatically points to a retrospective and potentially self-questioning character of the series.
Indeed, the series can be understood as a kind of ‘social self-portrait’, in which Rauschenberg’s biography unfolds not linearly, but as an interwoven network of relationships. The sheets are loosely structured into thematic groups. A familial cluster includes ‘Bubba’s Sister’, referring to his sister Janis Rauschenberg, as well as ‘‘topher’, which alludes to his son Christopher Rauschenberg and his earlier marriage to Susan Weil. Particularly ambivalent is ‘Big and Little Bully’s’, which likely refers to the artist’s parents – a title suggesting a tense and unsentimental relationship.
A second focus is dedicated to key figures from his professional environment. ‘Tanya’ honours the printmaker Tatyana Grosman, whose workshop Universal Limited Art Editions played a decisive role in the development of his printmaking practice. ‘Ileana’ refers to the gallerist Ileana Sonnabend, who significantly contributed to the international recognition of his work.
A third group brings together artistic collaborators, including dancer Steve Paxton, ‘Ace’, as well as Jasper Johns, ‘Jap’, whose relationship with Rauschenberg was among the most productive and at the same time most intimate constellations of American post-war art. ‘John’ refers to composer John Cage, whose conceptualisation of chance and process deeply influenced Rauschenberg’s work.
In sheets such as ‘Eagle Eye’, however, the reference remains deliberately open, oscillating between concrete person, memory and metaphor.
It is precisely in this tension between designation and indeterminacy that the particular quality of the series lies. Despite their apparent directness, the works resist unambiguous attribution and interpretation. They can appear almost confessional at times, without lapsing into mere sentimentality; rather, Rauschenberg succeeds in articulating personal proximity and critical distance simultaneously. The use of his own photographs intensifies the impression of an inner archive being opened here for the first time in such explicit form.
Created shortly before the artist’s 75th birthday, ‘Ruminations’ can be read as a small, personal retrospective – a quiet, multifaceted account of a practice consistently shaped by fusion, collaboration and inventive creativity.
CHF 10 000 / 15 000 | (€ 10 310 / 15 460)
Venduto per CHF 11 875 (incl. premio)