Robert Rauschenberg, Lucio Amelio Napoli poster, 1987

Robert Rauschenberg

Lucio Amelio Napoli poster, 1987

Offset lithograph poster

Not signed

39 × 21 inches

Unframed

This poster was published for the exhibition Rauschenberg: Neapolitan Glut at the Galleria Lucio Amelio, Naples from April 24–May 30, 1987. The gallery closed after Lucio Amelio's passing in 1994.

About Robert Rauschenberg:
Robert Rauschenberg ushered in a new era of postwar American art in the wake of Abstract Expressionism. His approach, along with that of his contemporary Jasper Johns, was sometimes termed “Neo-Dada,” due to its relation to both European forebears and the physical gestures of American Abstract Expressionists. His Combine works (1954 to early 1960s) blurred the distinctions between painting and sculpture, as their flat surfaces were augmented with discarded materials and appropriated images. Rauschenberg also worked with photography, printmaking, papermaking, and performance, the last of which resulted in a number of collaborations with choreographers, including Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, and Trisha Brown. Rauschenberg was among the founding members of the innovative group Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.) in 1966, and in 1984 he established the Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange (ROCI) to bring art to communities around the world, saying, “I feel strong in my beliefs, based on my varied and widely traveled collaborations, that a one-to-one contact through art contains potent peaceful powers, and is the most non-elitist way to share exotic and common information, seducing us into creative mutual understandings for the benefit of all.” Rauschenberg’s nontraditional art practice and creative energy generated an enduring influence that impacted generations of artists, as noted by art historian Branden W. Joseph: “Rauschenberg’s was a position with which artists across the board were confronted and to which they almost necessarily had to respond. … Rauschenberg’s work served as a stimulus, an impetus and a challenge.”

Robert Rauschenberg was born in 1925, in Port Arthur, Texas and died on Captiva Island, Florida in 2008. He has had numerous exhibitions worldwide, including “Robert Rauschenberg: A Retrospective,” Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1997, traveled to Menil Collection, Contemporary Arts Museum, and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum Ludwig, Cologne and Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, through 1999); “Combines,” Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2005, traveled to Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Centre Pompidou, Paris, and Moderna Museet, Stockholm in 2007); “Cardboards and Related Pieces,” Menil Collection, Houston (2007); “Traveling ‘70–‘76,” Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto (2008, traveled to Haus der Kunst, Munich, and Madre, Naples in 2009); “Gluts,” The Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice (2009, traveled to The Tinguely Museum, Basel, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and Villa e Collezione Panza, Varese in 2010); and “Botanical Vaudeville,” Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh (2011). Gagosian Gallery first exhibited Robert Rauschenberg’s work in 1986.
Courtesy of Gagosian

About Lucio Amelio:
Lucio Amelio (13 September 1931 – 2 July 1994) was an Italian art dealer, curator, and actor. For decades he contributed to make Naples an international art centre encouraging the dialogue between European and American contemporary arts.
In 1965 he opened the Modern Art Agency, a gallery in Parco Margherita dedicated to experimental art. In 1969 he opened the Galleria Lucio Amelio in Naples’ Piazza dei Martiri, which hosted exhibitions of artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Mario Merz, Jannis Kounellis, Keith Haring, Cy Twombly, Dieter Hacker.
One of Amelio's most significant achievements was the exhibition Terrae Motus he organized in 1982 following the 1980 Irpinia earthquake in Italy. In 1987, Terrae Motus traveled to the Grand Palais, Paris. The exhibition featured the work of more than 50 artists, including Joseph Beuys, Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter, Keith Haring, Cy Twombly, Miquel Barceló, Tony Cragg, Mimmo Paladino, Giulio Paolini, George Condo, Emilio Vedova, Anselm Kiefer, Philip Taaffe, Donald Baechler, David Bowes, Robert Mapplethorpe, Luciano Fabro, Gilbert & George, Richard Long and many others. Later grouped in a collection, today "Terrae Motus" is on permanent display in the Palace of Caserta.

Publisher:
Lucio Amelio, Napoli