Robert Rauschenberg 1925-2008

From The New York Times:

Robert Rauschenberg, the irrepressibly prolific American artist who time and again reshaped art in the 20th century, died Monday night. He was 82.

His death was confirmed by his gallery, PaceWildenstein in Manhattan.

Mr. Rauschenberg’s work gave new meaning to sculpture. “Canyon,” for instance, consisted of a stuffed bald eagle attached to a canvas. “Monogram” was a stuffed Angora goat girdled by a tire atop a painted panel. “Bed” entailed a quilt, sheet and pillow, slathered with paint, as if soaked in blood, framed on the wall. They all became icons of postwar modernism.

Michael Kimmelman writes: “Robert Rauschenberg was the irrepressibly prolific American artist who time and again reshaped art in the 20th century.”

“Mr. Rauschenberg’s work gave new meaning to sculpture. A painter, photographer, printmaker, choreographer, onstage performer, set designer and, in later years, a composer, Mr. Rauschenberg defied the traditional idea that an artist stick to one medium or style. He pushed, prodded and sometimes substantially reconceived various mediums in which he worked.”