Robert Rauschenberg

 Female Figure | Robert Rauschenberg Foundation 

Robert Rauschenberg is not particularly recognized for his cyanotypes, but that does not mean they are less than incredible. In all of this cyanotype work, the images created are very dynamic. All of his work I have found contains the human body in some way. With these, he manipulates the space around them in ways that leave room for interpretation while making connections between the human body and other elements like plants. My favorite of Rauschenberg's cyanotypes are the ones above and below. I think these are very interesting while also being technically challenging in a way. In order to create images like this, you must have a deep understanding of how the process works and know exactly how to manipulate light. They are definitely inspiring to me and shows what is possible with cyanotype. 

Robert Rauschenberg @MoMA | Collector Daily

Many of Rauschenberg's works all contain a very whimsical sense to them, but also seem to be very serious at the same time. These cyanotypes are the closest to what a dream feels like that I have seen all year in this class. Rauschenberg is able to turn the human body form into something of many forms. It is almost as if these figures have come from a different dimension or maybe even what it feels like to be on drugs. 

Robert Rauschenberg: A Retrospective | Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

After performing cyanotype myself, I appreciate these images way more than I would;d have with no experience because I know from experience it is difficult to get details without using a true negative, but when using silhouettes. In a process that usually creates flat images, Rauschenberg was able to create depth to his images. Especially with the photo on the bottom of this blog, when you pay attention to the details you can see that Rauschenberg did some sort of layering effect while creating the images to create the illusion of foreground. This technique seems very challenging to visualize, but as I mentioned previously, it is clear Robert Rauschenberg has a superb and technical understanding of the cyanotype process and knows just what to do to make the viewer say "wow."

Robert Rauschenberg Foundation | Robert rauschenberg, History of photography, CyanotypeRobert Rauschenberg | Untitled | MutualArt

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