Skip navigation
Tate Logo
Shop
Become a Member

Main menu

  • Art and artists
    • Our collection
      Artists
      Artworks
      Art by theme
      Explore
      Videos
      Podcasts
      Short articles
      In depth
      Art Terms
      Tate Research
      Student resources
      Make art
      Create like an artist
      Kids art activities
      Tate Draw game
  • What's on
  • Plan your visit

Main menu additional

  • Shop
  • Become a Member
Expand
  • Art and Artists
  • Artworks
  • Almanac

Robert Rauschenberg

Almanac

1962

Artwork © Robert Rauschenberg Foundation

License this image

In Tate Modern
Exhibition

Capturing The Moment

A journey through painting and photography

Now booking
Artist
Robert Rauschenberg 1925–2008
Medium
Oil paint, acrylic paint and screenprint on canvas
Dimensions
Support: 2450 × 1535 × 25 mm
frame: 2469 × 1552 × 45 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Presented by the Friends of the Tate Gallery 1969
Reference
T01135
  • Display caption
  • Catalogue entry

Display caption

Rauschenberg began making silkscreen paintings in 1962. He would screen-print images from books and magazines, along with his own photographs, onto the canvas, then apply painterly brushstrokes reminiscent of Abstract Expressionism. His intention was 'to escape the familiarity of objects and collage'. Like all these works, Almanac has no specific meaning or narrative. The images are organised in a loose, poetic manner, creating an impression of visual flux that allows the viewer to free-associate .

Gallery label, August 2004

Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.

Read more

Catalogue entry

Robert Rauschenberg born 1925

T01135 Almanac 1962

Inscribed on back of canvas 'ALMANAC | RAUSCHENBERG | 1962'
Oil and silkscreen on canvas, 96 x 60 (243 x 152)
Purchased from the Galerie Ileana Sonnabend, Paris, and Leo Castelli Inc., New York (Grant-in-Aid) with the aid of the Friends of the Tate Gallery 1969
Exh: Rauschenberg, Galerie Ileana Sonnabend, Paris, February-March 1963 (works not numbered); Painting and Sculpture of a Decade 1954-64, Tate Gallery, April-June 1964 (290, repr.); Robert Rauschenberg, Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, September-October 1964 (11, repr.); Robert Rauschenberg, Amerika Haus, Berlin, January-February 1965 (2, repr.); Campo Vitale, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, July-October 1967 (229); 4. Documenta, Kassel, June-October 1968 (Rauschenberg 3, repr.)
Repr: Ronald Alley, Recent American Art (London 1969), pl.20; Andrew Forge, Rauschenberg (London 1969), p.99 Terry Measham, The Moderns 1945-1975 (Oxford 1976), pl.48

This painting comes from the first of Rauschenberg's two groups of black and white silkscreen paintings. The first group was made in 1962 and the second in 1962-3, culminating with 'Barge'.

Rauschenberg states that his titles are rarely specific in intent. They can be used in a way similar to the images in the paintings. Although the images are very specific their juxtaposition evokes non-specific or poetic free association. A plant is placed next to the ocean with no specific literary intent. The viewer's reaction should be personal. The images have an aura of impersonality, enabling the viewer to free-associate on a non-specific level.

All the images in this picture were chosen from books and magazines, with the exception of the view of water towers in the second row from the top which was photographed by Rauschenberg himself from the roof of his old studio at 809 Broadway, New York, where this picture was painted. (This note is based on information from the artist transmitted by Brice Marden in letters of 3 February and 19 February 1970).

Published in:
Ronald Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.621-2, reproduced p.621

Read more

Pop art

Explore

  • abstraction(8,615)
    • non-representational(6,161)
      • gestural(891)
  • architecture(30,960)
    • industrial(2,075)
      • cooling tower(15)
  • emotions, concepts and ideas(16,416)
    • formal qualities(12,454)
      • defacement(257)
      • photographic(4,673)
    • universal concepts(6,387)
      • ambiguity(310)
  • places(26,467)
    • cities, towns, villages (non-UK)(13,323)
      • New York - non-specific(333)
    • countries and continents(17,390)
      • USA(622)

You might like

Left Right
  • Robert Rauschenberg Night Grip

    1966
    View by appointment
  • Robert Rauschenberg Preview

    1974
  • Robert Rauschenberg Quiet House - Black Mountain, 1949

    1949, printed 1979
    View by appointment
  • Robert Rauschenberg Central Park, 1950

    1950, printed 1979
    View by appointment
  • Robert Rauschenberg Sneakers, 1950

    1950, printed 1979
    View by appointment
  • Robert Rauschenberg Rome Flea Market (V), 1952

    1952, printed 1979
    View by appointment
  • Robert Rauschenberg Tangier, 1952

    1952, printed 1979
    View by appointment
  • Robert Rauschenberg Laundry, N.Y.C. (I), 1955

    1955, printed 1979
    View by appointment
  • Robert Rauschenberg Bathroom Window, (Broadway studio), c.1961

    1961, printed 1979
    View by appointment
  • Robert Rauschenberg Visitation II

    1965
    View by appointment
  • Robert Rauschenberg Pledge

    1968
    View by appointment
  • Robert Rauschenberg Bazaar

    1984
  • Robert Rauschenberg The Razorback Bunch (Etching I)

    1980
    View by appointment
  • Robert Rauschenberg Lawn

    1965
    View by appointment
  • Robert Rauschenberg Revenue (Spread)

    1980

In the shop

Browse the shop
Close

Join in

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
Sign up to emails

Sign up to emails

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Tate’s privacy policy

About

  • About us
  • Our collection
  • Terms and copyright
  • Governance
  • Picture library
  • ARTIST ROOMS
  • Tate Kids

Support

  • Tate Collective
  • Members
  • Patrons
  • Donate
  • Corporate
  • My account
  • Press
  • Jobs
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Contact