Schwitters and Rauschenberg

Paper Summary:

This paper compares and contrasts the artists, Kurt Schwitters and Robert Rauschenberg. It specifically focuses on Schwitters's "Merzpicture" and Rauschenberg's "Dirt Painting." The paper discusses their use of unusual materials and discusses how they managed to create forms of art that were radically different from anything that had come before.

From the Paper:

"Thus, Robert Rauschenberg's work of the 1950s can be seen as a seminal work of process-based art. While that process may be somewhat apparent in Kurt Schwitters's Merz pictures from this era, the artist was not so radical as to defy all means of self-expression - he clearly could not help himself from interfering by shaping his materials into a form that may not have seemed coherent at the time, but from a historical perspective, certainly seems to make sense. Both works seem to evoke a melancholy mood in the viewer once one realizes that such rigorous means of experimentation are largely absent from the activities of artists in today's art world."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Feaver, William. "Alien at Ambleside." The Sunday Times Magazine, August 18, 1974. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://fp.armitt.plus.com/alien_at_ambleside.htm.
• Krcma, Ed. "From Evacuation to Fullness: Rauschenberg in the '50s." Stammtisch Forum. Retrieved 29 March 2008 from: http://www.stammtischforum.org/synopsis_Rausch.html.
• Larson, Kay. "Cage Was Not Only All Ears, He Was All Eyes, Too." New York Times, Feb. 4, 2001.
• Seckler, Dorothy. "Interview with Robert Rauschenberg." Smithsonian Archives of American Art, December 21, 1965. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/tranSCRIPTs/rausch65.htm.
• Webster, Gwendolen Freundel. "Kurt Schwitters." Artchive, 1998. Retrieved 30 March 2008 from: http://www.artchive.com/artchive/S/schwitters.html.

More papers on Schwitters and Rauschenberg:

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• Descriptive Essay # 128072 : "From Order to Chaos - Rauschenberg's "Bed"

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