International Art

Rauschenberg & Johns: significant others

Learning Resource

Two men sit at a table covered in mugs and art supplies.

Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns in Johns’s Pearl Street studio, New York, NY, United States, 1954, gelatin silver print, 20.3 x 25.4 cm. Image courtesy Robert Rauschenberg Foundation © photographer, Rachel Rosenthal

Secondary
Year 9–12

Introduction

Two men standing close to each other and laughing together

Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg at Gemini GEL in Los Angeles, 1980, gelatin silver print, 20.3 x 25.4 cm. © photographer, Terry Van Brunt

Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns are considered two of the most significant artists of the twentieth century. While their work is credited with changing the course of American art history, their individual artistic styles are a result of a private creative dialogue that began when they were young artists in a relationship.

Their work questioned ideas of authorship, value, and how art needed to communicate to a public audience. This was the result of each of them being the audience for the other.

Not wanting to publicly expose their feelings and desires, Rauschenberg and Johns began a private creative dialogue, introducing everyday signs, objects and media into their work to create a distinctive, coded visual style.

As Johns remembered: ‘The kind of exchange we had was stronger than talking. If you do something, then I do something.’ While their dialogue was private, their work remained engaged with ideas of public reception and understanding, developing methodologies that interrogated ideas of cultural value, legibility and private communication.

In the late 1960s both Rauschenberg and Johns worked with celebrated printmaker Kenneth Tyler to create groundbreaking works in lithography and screen print. Their experimental engagement with print processes made them important figures in the revival of printmaking in the United States.

This introduction is an extract from Assistant Curator, David Greenhalgh's essay

An audience of each other

Watch and listen to the Curatorial Introduction with Assistant Curator, David Greenhalgh

Jasper Johns – Figure 7

Jasper Johns, Figure 7 from Color numeral series, 1968–69, published by Gemini Graphic Editions Limited, Los Angeles, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1973 © Jasper Johns/Copyright Agency, 2023


LOOK

  • Spend a minute or 2 looking at Jasper Johns, Figure 7.
  • In a group discuss the imagery and colours in the work.
  • Consider if the imagery is familiar and why some images may be only partially seen?

THINK

  • What do you think stands out the most in the artwork?
  • Keep in mind this work was created in in the late 1960’s, how do you think Johns is asking the viewer to consider hierarchy of values based on the imagery we see in Figure 7?

'For a number of years we were each other’s main audience'

– Jasper Johns on Robert Rauschenberg, 1980

Robert Rauschenberg – Booster

Collaged print image of human skeleton and blue chair

Robert Rauschenberg, Gemini G.E.L., Kenneth Tyler, Booster from Booster and 7 studies, 1967, National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased 1973 © Robert Rauschenberg. VAGA/Copyright Agency, 2023

LOOK

  • Spend a few minutes looking at Booster, 1967, move your eyes across the work slowly from side to side.
  • As a group make a list of all the imagery and marks you can see? Where do you find these images?
  • What is familiar and what is unfamiliar - what are you curious about?
  • How would you describe the use of multiple images and the composition?
  • How is colour used in the work?

THINK

  • Why do you think Rauschenberg has used found and existing images to create a new work? How does it change the meaning of individual images when they are placed and layered together? How is the authorship of images changed?
  • This work is considered to be a self-portrait made up of many images collected from various sources. To read more about all the revealed and hidden images in this work click here

CREATE

Thinking about your own personal history, if you were to create a collage of images that represent you, what images would you use to say something publicly about yourself? Would the images be from magazines and newspapers, photographs, symbols or x rays like Rauschenberg has and Johns used in their work?

What images would be more obvious and how could you use a visual language that both represents personal meaning for you - but maintains your privacy from the public?

Make a list of the possible images.

You are going to create a self-portrait that represents the multitudes that represents you rather than just a depiction of your face or body.

You may need a few days to begin collecting your images.

When creating this work keep in mind experimentation and play with composition, repetition, layering and transference to express the visual dialogue.

What is clear to see and what is hidden. Consider using collage, drawing, transparent paper and print to layer your portrait. Play with perspective and size.

Consider your audience and what they may read into the work, what meaning is generated when two of your selected images are placed beside each other or upside down?

When you have finished, find a space to display everyone’s work.