Stella Boyle Smith Gallery

Featuring Robert Rauschenberg and Josef Albers

Robert Rauschenberg joined Black Mountain College in 1948 seeking instruction from Josef Albers, a former German Bauhaus professor whom he would later consider his most important teacher. The relationship between the two was complicated by the fact that Rauschenberg’s work was made in direct rebellion of the work of his adviser. Albers advocated for the purity of the geometric form and strict color theory, and from those lessons, Rauschenberg learned what he aimed to reject.

 Rauschenberg is known for participating in nearly all postwar movements that challenged popular modernist practices. A Pop art influence is visible in his Chow Bags series, which demonstrates his fondness for collecting and displaying discarded commercial items as well as his desire to connect art with life. However, Rauschenberg’s tactile tendencies and his thirst for innovation remain involved within the collaged prototypes and the thread-woven screenprints. His ultimate intent to engage the viewer’s eye and mind would endure as one of his most significant contributions to art.

- Education Coordinator, Haley Voges

Nexus is a word used to communicate a sense of connection between ideas or things, or to denote the central or most important place. It is a natural descriptor for an exhibition that explores the artifacts within the collection due to both the significance of the work, as well as the story it tells of the donors who have so generously worked to build the collection. BAM represents an ongoing effort to make our community better through education and exposure to cultural artifacts and programming that will serve the region for many years to come.

Click on the artworks for more information!

María Sol Escobar, known simply as Marisol, is remembered as an American sculptor associated with the Pop art movement. She was highly respected as an innovator within artist groups of the 1960s. Like many artists of the era, her career began in Abstract Expressionism. Later, influenced by pre-Columbian folk art and the work of Robert Rauschenberg, she began sculpting figurative assemblages of carved wood, drawings, and found objects. With this work and her high-profile persona, she achieved notoriety among a male dominated scene.

During the 1970s, Marisol was a prolific printmaker, showcasing her talents as a draftswoman. Much of her work from this period consists of lithographs: prints made by pressing paper onto a flat stone which has been prepared to accept ink in some places and repel it in others. In such works, Marisol uses line, color, and shading to reveal silhouettes of human figures. Her prints take on a tense energy and address a more serious subject matter than her acclaimed assemblages.

-Haley Voges

“The collection we have on view is exceptional in the sense that there are only a select number of institutions that have these artworks. Working at BAM as a student gave me rare access to some prominent artists who have made a major impact on the contemporary art we see today. I’m thrilled to provide this first-hand experience to so many other students, as well as members of the community,”

- Curator and Registrar, Hillary Brooks

“One the best aspects of my new role at the Bradbury Art Museum has been the chance to explore the existing collection. The caliber of work in the collection speaks to the foresight of our generous donors whose ongoing support make our programs possible,”

- Garry Holstein

“It’s highly rewarding to be able to tell significant stories from art history using visual guides from our own collection. The relationship between Rauschenberg and Albers is interesting in itself, but there are so many other learning possibilities that become available when discussing artists who held such prominent positions within the art world,”

-Haley Voges

The exhibition features portfolios of six large scale prints by celebrated artists Marisol Escobar and Robert Rauschenberg. Additionally, several individual works from noted artists such as Rosenquist, Calder, Miro, Chagall, and Picasso are featured.

This exploratory selection of work from the collection was collaboratively curated by BAM team members Hillary Brooks, Haley Voges, and Garry Holstein.