Rauschenberg was born in 1925 at Port Arthur, Texas. In 1942 he studied pharmacy briefly at the University of Texas, following which he served in the US Marines. From 1947-48 he studied various subjects at the Kansas City Art Institute, including art history, sculpture and music. During this time he did window displays, executed film sets and designed photgraphic studios. In 1948 he attended the Academie Julian, Paris, met Susan Weil, who was later to become his wife, and returned to the USA to study under Joseph Albers at the Black Mountain College, North Carolina. There he met the choreographer Merce Cunningham and the composer John Cage in 1949 and collaborated closely with both of them. In the same year he moved to New York and studied at the Art Students' League until 1952. He did window displays with Jasper Johns for Tiffany and Bonwit Teller, had his first one-man exhibition in 1951 and returned to Black Mountain in 1952. He traveled and exhibited in Europe in 1953 and in that same year moved back to New York and began his red pictures, replacing the all-white and all-black paintings. He erased a drawing by William DeKooning. In 1964 he was awarded first prize at the Venice Biennale and continued working for Merce Cunningham Dance Trouple.
Robert Rauschenberg was a recycler before it was fashionable. He invented a hybrid form of part painting and part sculpture, combing the streets of New York for his materials. Raschenberg bought discount paints without labels at hardware stores saying "if it isn't a surprise, it's nothing." Rausenberg's most overriding concern is with the creation of a total harmony out of disparate elements and his actual concern for subject makes him unique in that he is a painter in the Pop tradition. In the 80's later in his career he became politically active appealing for a re-examination of taxation for non-profit art institutions among other causes such as the Rauschenberg Overseas Capture interchange to promote peace through art.
Rauschenberg was born in 1925 at Port Arthur, Texas. In 1942 he studied pharmacy briefly at the University of Texas, following which he served in the US Marines. From 1947-48 he studied various subjects at the Kansas City Art Institute, including art history, sculpture and music. During this time he did window displays, executed film sets and designed photgraphic studios. In 1948 he attended the Academie Julian, Paris, met Susan Weil, who was later to become his wife, and returned to the USA to study under Joseph Albers at the Black Mountain College, North Carolina. There he met the choreographer Merce Cunningham and the composer John Cage in 1949 and collaborated closely with both of them. In the same year he moved to New York and studied at the Art Students' League until 1952. He did window displays with Jasper Johns for Tiffany and Bonwit Teller, had his first one-man exhibition in 1951 and returned to Black Mountain in 1952. He traveled and exhibited in Europe in 1953 and in that same year moved back to New York and began his red pictures, replacing the all-white and all-black paintings. He erased a drawing by William DeKooning. In 1964 he was awarded first prize at the Venice Biennale and continued working for Merce Cunningham Dance Trouple.