How does Erased de Kooning Drawing elucidate its abstract?
Erased de Kooning Drawing (1953) is an early work of American artist Robert Rauschenberg. This conceptual work presents an almost blank piece of paper in a gilded frame. It was created in 1953 when Rauschenberg erased a drawing he obtained from the abstract expressionist and American artist Willem de Kooning. Rauschenberg's friend and fellow artist, Jasper Johns, later framed it in a gilded frame and added a written caption to mimic the framing style of the Royal Academy and monogramming found on Renaissance drawings and prints. The caption reads: "Erased de Kooning Drawing, Robert Rauschenberg, 1953" (see picture). It has been in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) since 1998. SFMOMA describes the work as a "drawing [with] traces of drawing media on paper with a label and gilded frame."
Some consider Erased de Kooning Drawing a Neo-Dadaist conceptual artwork. Others argue that the action of erasing highlights his relationship to a group of artists known as "The American Action Painters", as codified by American critic Harold Rosenberg.
Willem de Kooning conceptual art San Francisco Museum of Modern Art abstract expressionist Jasper Johns San Francisco Royal Academy Robert Rauschenberg Neo-Dada Harold Rosenberg The American Action Painters