Robert Rauschenberg
Witness
1965
Scroll
Robert Rauschenberg
Witness
1965
Physical Qualities
Graphite and white opaque watercolor over solvent transfer, Sheet: 738 x 585 mm. (29 1/16 x 23 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. I.W. Burnham II, for the Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection
Object Number
1967.6
To make this transfer drawing, Rauschenberg selected printed material from magazines and other common sources and, using a chemical solvent and rubbing process, forced the image onto the drawing paper. With this method, the artist treated the actual ink from the source material like a drawing medium. In some areas, the transferred images can be read clearly—a golfer, eyes, a mailbox—while in others the images are less defined. Uneven burnishing marks appear over the entire drawing, references to the physical process of the transfer. With pencil and gouache, the artist tied the images together into a complex composition. Rauschenberg began to make transfer drawings in 1958, taking ideas from his three-dimensional Combines (combination paintings /found-object sculptures) and applying them to flat surfaces.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1967; Mr. and Mrs. I.W. Burnham II, 1967; Leo Castelli Gallery, NY
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, "Rauschenberg," 6 March - 14 April 1968.
Victor Carlson (organized and circulated by the BMA), "19th and 20th Century Prints and Drawings from The Baltimore Museum of Art." E.B. Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, November 3 - December 2, 1973; Honolulu Academy of Art, Honolulu, January 18 - February 17, 1974; The William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, April 2 - April 21, 1974, cat. 54.
Victor Carlson and Carol Hynning Smith, BMA, "Master Drawings and Watercolors of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries"; circulated by the American Federation of Arts to the Guggenheim Museum, NY, 24 August - 7 October 1979; Des Moines Art Center, 19 November 1979 - 6 January 1980; Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, 8 February - 16 March, 1980; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1 May - 22 June 1980 ; Denver Art Museum, 12 July - 24 August, 1980.
BMA, "Drawings from the Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection," 14 October - 12 December 1982.
BMA, "Figure Drawings from the Museum's Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection," 21 July - 27 September 1987.
BMA, "Modern Master Drawings from the Museum's Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection," 21 February - 30 April 1989.
BMA, "Making the Decades: Drawings 1960-1990," 5 February - 19 April, 1992.
BMA, "Drawings of the 1960s from the Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection," 17 November 1993 - 30 January 1994.
BMA, "Select Views: Drawings from the Benesch Collection," 21 May - 30 July 2006.
BMA, "On Paper: Figure Drawings from the Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection," April 20 - September 14, 2014.
Victor Carlson (organized and circulated by the BMA), "19th and 20th Century Prints and Drawings from The Baltimore Museum of Art." E.B. Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, November 3 - December 2, 1973; Honolulu Academy of Art, Honolulu, January 18 - February 17, 1974; The William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, April 2 - April 21, 1974, cat. 54.
Victor Carlson and Carol Hynning Smith, BMA, "Master Drawings and Watercolors of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries"; circulated by the American Federation of Arts to the Guggenheim Museum, NY, 24 August - 7 October 1979; Des Moines Art Center, 19 November 1979 - 6 January 1980; Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, 8 February - 16 March, 1980; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1 May - 22 June 1980 ; Denver Art Museum, 12 July - 24 August, 1980.
BMA, "Drawings from the Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection," 14 October - 12 December 1982.
BMA, "Figure Drawings from the Museum's Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection," 21 July - 27 September 1987.
BMA, "Modern Master Drawings from the Museum's Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection," 21 February - 30 April 1989.
BMA, "Making the Decades: Drawings 1960-1990," 5 February - 19 April, 1992.
BMA, "Drawings of the 1960s from the Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection," 17 November 1993 - 30 January 1994.
BMA, "Select Views: Drawings from the Benesch Collection," 21 May - 30 July 2006.
BMA, "On Paper: Figure Drawings from the Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection," April 20 - September 14, 2014.
BMA News, vol. XXIX, nos 3-4, 1967, p. 14 (illus p. 5).
BMA News, vol. XXX, nos 1-2, 1968, p. 29 (not illus).
"The Thomas Edward Benesch Memorial Collection," BMA, 1970, unpaginated.
Ana Rosner, "The Benesch Collection: The Intimate World of Drawings." Newsletter of the Print, Drawing & Photograph Society (Spring 2006), illus. p. 22.
Clisby, Roger D. 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings from the Baltimore Museum of Art: Catalogue [of an exhibition held at the E. B. Crocker Art Gallery, November 3 - December 2, 1973, Honolulu Academy of Arts, January 18 - February 17, 1974, and William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center, April 2 - April 21, 1974]. [Sacramento, CA]: E. B. Crocker Art Gallery, 1973, cat. no. 54, unpaged
Carlson, Victor, and Carol Hynning Smith. Master Drawings and Watercolors of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: The Baltimore Museum of Art. New York, NY: The American Federation of Arts, 1979, pp. 173, ill.
Inscribed: verso, in graphite: "Witness / Rauschenberg / Dec. '66"
Markings: Chopmark: Strathmore
Artist
Robert Rauschenberg
1924–2007
born Port Arthur, TX 1925; died Captiva, FL 2008
Meet Robert Rauschenberg
