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Robert RAUSCHENBERG

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Samarkand Stitches IV (RR88-161), 1988 RAUSCHENBERG Robert (Port Arthur, Texas, USA 1925 † 2008 Captiva, Florida, USA) Original silkscreen, printed on silk patchwork. H154xW104cm. Unique variant from a series of 78 screen-printed wall hangings, published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles. Hand-numbered on the reverse, on the publisher's label. Embroidered signature and date lower left. Mounted under frame ROCI: Rauschenberg's "Grand Tour" (1984-1991) The Samarkand series was presented in Moscow in 1989, on the occasion of the ROCI USSR exhibition. This event was one of the highlights of a vast intercultural artistic operation launched and financed by Rauschenberg in 1984: ROCI (Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange). Convinced that art can work for the happiness of mankind and carry a message of peace, the artist spent seven years touring eleven different countries: Mexico, Chile, Venezuela, China, Tibet, Japan, Cuba, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, East Germany and Malaysia. This "Grand Tour", which Rauschenberg documented with numerous photographs, and during which he multiplied his artistic collaborations, culminated in 1991 with a retrospective at the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Samarkand, an Uzbek city on the Silk Road: In 1988, in preparation for his Moscow exhibition, Rauschenberg surveyed several cities in the Soviet Union, including Samarkand in Uzbekistan. Located on the ancient Silk Road, Samarkand inspired Rauschenberg to create a large series of screen-printed wall hangings, the composite aspect of which is in keeping with his Combine paintings. Rauschenberg integrated pieces of variegated fabric gleaned from local markets in Uzbekistan. Sewn together end-to-end, these fabrics, chosen for their rich textures and colors, served as the backdrop for the artist's photographic images. Rauschenberg, first American artist to exhibit in the Soviet Union: Inaugurated at the Tretyakov Gallery in February 1989, seven months before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the ROCI USSR exhibition was enthusiastically received on both sides of the Atlantic. It was seen as a powerful symbol of "freedom" (Leonid Bazhanov) and reconciliation between Russia and the United States, confirming the end of the Cold War. The first retrospective of an American artist in the Soviet Union, it was celebrated by the poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko as a veritable "spiritual perestroika". Filmmaker and art critic Amei Wallach called the event "revolutionary".

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