Rauschenberg & Johns—Significant Others

"Intimacy, revolution and art in Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg" - Art Guide

In 1953, on the corner of a New York City street, Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008, United States) met Jasper Johns (b 1930, United States). These two young artists fell in love at a time when it was illegal to be in a same-sex relationship. It was also a time when New York’s artistic culture was dominated by Abstract Expressionism, an art movement of expressive gestures arising from the self or inner psyche. While their relationship would end in 1961, this formative exchange resonated throughout their lives and art. They became two of America’s most celebrated artists of the twentieth century.

A new avant-garde began to emerge from the relationship between these two young artists. Not wanting to publicly expose their feelings and desires through art, Rauschenberg and Johns began a private creative dialogue, introducing everyday signs, objects and media into their work to create a distinctive, coded visual style and collapsing the distinction between art and life.

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 the result of a private creative dialogue that began when they were young artists in a relationship. Deliberately moving against the grain of Abstract Expressionism became the crucible for both of their lifelong practices.

"Rauschenberg and Johns—Significant Others" draws upon the National Gallery’s Kenneth Tyler collection of prints by both Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns produced between 1968 and 1973.