Robert Rauschenberg: Spreads 1975-83

Asked about his use of the term “Spread,” Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) responded that it meant “as far as I can make it stretch, and land (like a farmer’s ‘spread’), and also the stuff you put on toast.” Prompted by an imminent retrospective of his work in 1976, Rauschenberg sourced motifs from his own past–tires, bedding, electric lights, bird wings, umbrellas and parachutes–and recombined them with textiles and printed media images in large-scale, quasi-architectural works.

This fully illustrated catalog is the first devoted to Robert Rauschenberg’s Spreads series (1975-83). It includes full-page reproductions of the artist’s paintings and works on paper. In her essay, Elisa Schaar states: Rather than a retrospective exercise, the Spreads is a series with visual and historical specificity in its own right, incorporating not only elements from Rauschenberg’s earlier work, but also reflecting changes in his life, his practice and in contemporary art at the time.