John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns... key decade: 1950s

1. Briefly: Dada the first time around
   
   Thesis: Just as the original dada movement (1917-1920s) constituted one kind of response to war, "neo" dada could be seen as a very different response to a very different kind of war, a Cold war (1950-1958 or so)
2. The presence of John Cage (U.S., 1912-1992)
   1. Chance
   2. Silence
3. Robert Rauschenberg (US, b. 1925) "...the gap between art and life"
4. Jasper Johns (US, b. 1930) "...things the mind already knows"
5. Neo-Dada collaborators: Niki de Saint-Phalle (Fr-US, b. 1930)

Slide List

numerous Dada artists (Hausmann, Schwitters, Heartfield, Hoch), for background only
Cage and Rauschenberg Automobile Tire Print 1953
Rauschenberg Erased de Kooning 1953
Rauschenberg Bed 1955
Rauschenberg Untitled combine (Man w/White Shoes) 1955
Rauschenberg Factum I and II 1957
Rauschenberg Monogram, 1955-59
Rauschenberg Retroactive 1964
Rauschenberg Pelican 1965
Rauschenberg Pelican (performance on skates) 1965
Johns Flag 1954
Johns Target with Plaster Casts 1955
Johns Numbers in Encaustic 1959
Johns Numbers in Color 1965
Johns Map 1961
Johns Watchman 1964
Johns The Perilous Night 1982
Niki de Saint-Phalle Tir painting 1961
Niki de Saint-Phalle First Shooting at Impasse Ronsin 1961
Niki de Saint-Phalle Crucifixion 1963-64 
Tinguely Meta-matic No.6 1958

[N.B. - Many of these artists will recur in subsequent lectures, as part of New York "Happenings."]

Robert Rauschenberg, Automobile Tire Print, 1953
Robert Rauschenberg, Erased deKooning, 1953
Robert Rauschenberg, Bed, 1955
Robert Rauschenberg, Monogram, 1955-59

Robert Rauschenberg collaborated on "Automobile Tire Print" with John Cage, whose silent piece, 4' 33", was inspired by Rauschenberg's white paintings. How do these works resonate with Rauschenberg's stated interest in working "in the gap between art and life...."?

Jasper Johns, Flag, 1954
Jasper Johns, Target w/plaster casts, 1955
Jasper Johns, Numbers in Color, 1965

Jasper Johns was profoundly affected by Rauschenberg's example, deciding to paint "things the mind already knows." His chosen technique of encaustic over newsprint freezes the brushstroke and allows fragments of the real world to remain barely visible beneath the color.

Robert Rauschenberg, Pelican (performance on skates), 1965
Jean Tinguely, Meta-matic No.6, 1958
Niki de Saint-Phalle, First Shooting at Impasse Ronsin, 1961
Niki de Saint-Phalle, Crucifixion, 1963-64

Rauschenberg "gave up painting" in '64, becoming ever more active in the emerging area of performance art. In this he was picking up on the energies of Europeans such as Jean Tinguely, a Swiss kinetic sculptor who saw performative possibilities in the Abstract Expressionists' emphasis on gesture. Niki de Saint Phalle, his French-American wife, also burst into performance art with the "shooting" pieces she orchestrated in 1961.