Robert Rauschenberg
Paintings and Sculptures
1948–1953
15 No. 1–1951, 1951
Paint and printed paper on canvas (?)
22 × 28 in. (55.9 × 71.1 cm)
Painted over by the artist to become Black Painting (no. 83)
RRF 51.014

No known surviving photograph of the work


PROVENANCEGaps in the provenance are indicated by “(?)” for a single unidentified owner and “(. . .)” for multiple unidentified owners. See Guide.
John Cage, New York, gift of the artist, 1951
Painted over by the artist, 1953


EXHIBITION
1950s

Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, Paintings by Bob Rauschenberg, May 14–June 2, 1951. 



LITERATURE
1950s

Cole, Mary. “Fifty-Seventh Street in Review: Bob Rauschenberg.” Art Digest 25, no. 17 (June 1, 1951). p. 18

1960s

Tomkins, Calvin. “Profiles: Moving Out.” New Yorker 40, no. 2 (February 29, 1964). p. 60

1980s

Tomkins, Calvin. Off the Wall: Robert Rauschenberg and the Art World of Our Time. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1980. p. 65

Feinstein, Roni. “The Unknown Early Robert Rauschenberg: The Betty Parsons Exhibition of 1951.” Arts Magazine (New York) 59, no. 5 (January 1985). p. 129

1990s

Feinstein, Roni. “Random Order: The First Fifteen Years of Robert Rauschenberg’s Art, 1949–1964.” PhD diss., New York University, 1990. ProQuest (303859753). pp. 59, 72–73, 82, as Composition 1

Hopps, Walter. Robert Rauschenberg: The Early 1950s. Houston: Menil Collection; Houston Fine Art Press, 1991. Exhibition catalogue. pp. 28, 153, 172, 226 (not exhibited)

Smith, Mark L. “Image and Word in the Prints of Robert Rauschenberg, 1951–1981.” PhD diss., University of Texas at Austin, 1992. ProQuest (304034847). p. 183

Hopps, Walter, and Susan Davidson. Robert Rauschenberg: A Retrospective. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 1997. Exhibition catalogue. p. 551 (not exhibited)

2000s

Davidson, Susan, and David White. Rauschenberg. Ferrara, Italy: Ferrara Arte, 2004. Exhibition catalogue. p. 212 (not exhibited)

Tomkins, Calvin. Off the Wall: A Portrait of Robert Rauschenberg. New York: Picador, 2005. p. 59

Hunter, Sam. Robert Rauschenberg: Works, Writings and Interviews. Barcelona: Polígrafa, 2006. p. 156

2010s

Davidson, Susan. “Mother of God.” Rauschenberg Research Project, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, July 2013. 

Dickerman, Leah, and Achim Borchardt-Hume. Robert Rauschenberg. New York: Museum of Modern Art; London: Tate Publishing, 2016. Exhibition catalogue. pp. 37, 39, 396 (not exhibited)

Kotz, Mary Lynn. Rauschenberg: Art and Life. 3rd ed. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2018. p. 71

2020s

Dziewior, Yilmaz, and Achim Hochdörfer, with Arthur Fink, eds. Five Friends: John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly. Munich: Museum Brandhorst; Cologne: Museum Ludwig, 2025. Exhibition catalogue. pp. 34, 50 (not exhibited)