Robert Rauschenberg's Erased de Kooning Drawing (1953): modernism, literalism, postmodernism

Abstract

"Erased de Kooning Drawing is an artwork that radically challenged the very definition of art and questioned the notion of the artist as creator. Three American artists were involved in its creation: In 1953, Robert Rauschenberg erased a drawing by Willem de Kooning, who had somewhat reluctantly been giving his consent. Jasper Johns created a label for its first public presentation that proved to be key to the psychological framing of the piece. Having been transmuted into something new, the obliterated drawing was soon perceived as a pivotal moment in art history: In the 1950s it was considered Neo-Dada, in the 1960s it was hailed as the beginning of conceptual art, and in the 1980s saw it as a departure into postmodernism. Numerous artists referenced the work and it became a touchstone in Rauschenberg's oeuvre. Gregor Stemmrich outlines its status as a litmus test for the definitions of modernism, literalism and postmodernism, and demonstrates its continuing relevance for the theory of the image and the question of appropriation.." -- Provided by publisher.

Contents

Introduction -- Erased de Kooning Drawing in its historical context. The preconditions for and context of the creation of Erased de Kooning Drawing -- The temporal horizon of the "monochrome no-image" -- Robert Rauschenberg's relationship to Wilhem de Kooning's art and conception of art -- "Yet an image" : Rauschenberg's statements on Erased de Kooning Drawing -- Themes and perspectives : theoretical and historical. The unreadable and the unnamable -- Allegory and "gender trouble" -- Image, no-image, not an image. Modernism and iconoclasm -- "The destructive character" : Walter Benjamin as contemporary witness -- The image, the visual, and the visible -- The concept of literalness -- This is a portrait of Iris Clert if i say so (1961) und Erased de Kooning Drawing (1953) -- Excursus : neither an elimination of nor an appeal to the face -- Contexts of the re-presentation, reception, and reflection of Erased de Kooning Drawing. Forms and contexts of presentation and reception I -- Erased de Kooning Drawing in photography and film -- Rauschenberg's Erased de Kooning Drawing (1953) and Sol LeWitt's Buried cube (1968) -- Forms and contexts of presentation and reception II -- Erased de Kooning Drawing as "West art" : the Ancient Incident (Kabal American Zephyr) (1981) -- Erased de Kooning Drawing in Rauschenberg's Oeuvre and in the context of the developments and discussion of art. Index and model, trace and presentation -- Excursus : Roland Barthes's Punctum and Robert Rauschenberg's Erased de Kooning Drawing -- Palimpsest and mystic writing pad -- Excursus : Roland Barthe's distinction between "feudal index" and "Bourgeois sign -- Allegory and symbol : Rauschenberg's Allegory (1959-60) -- Around 1980 : Erased de Kooning Drawing in the context of the postmodernist discourse on art -- "After Robert Rauschenberg" : references to Erased de Kooning Drawing in appropriation art -- Excursus : "The discourse of the copy" ; the label swindle -- Extended theoretical perspectives on Erased de Kooning Drawing. Allegory, aura, appropriation, avant-garde -- Erased de Kooning Drawing between Baudrillard's "Sign exchange value" and Derrida's "Gift" -- Extended historical perspectives Erased de Kooning Drawing. Erased de Kooning Drawing as a "sort of a corny idea" and as an "apogamy pod" -- Erased de Kooning Drawing : an art historical framework -- Epilogue : diagram, index, schema.