Robert Rauschenberg
Paintings and Sculptures
1948–1953
52.006 / 39
39 Black Painting, 1952
Oil and newspaper on canvas
79 × 355/8 in. (200.7 × 90.5 cm)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Gift of Jasper Johns for the Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection (2013.140.1)
RRF 52.006

Inscribed on relined canvas, upper left: BLACK PAINTING / BOB RAUSCHENBERG / 1952

Alternate Title: Untitled


PROVENANCEGaps in the provenance are indicated by “(?)” for a single unidentified owner and “(. . .)” for multiple unidentified owners. See Guide.
Jasper Johns, gift of the artist or by exchange, ca. 1959–60
[Robert and Jane Meyerhoff, Phoenix, Md., long-term loan, 1984–2013]
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., gift, 2013


EXHIBITIONS
1990s

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection: 1945 to 1995, March 31–July 21, 1996. no. 131

2010s

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection: Selected Works, October 1, 2009–May 2, 2010. 

Tate Modern, London, Robert Rauschenberg, December 1, 2016–April 2, 2017. Organized with Museum of Modern Art, New York. Traveled to Museum of Modern Art, New York (as Robert Rauschenberg: Among Friends), May 21–September 17, 2017; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (as Robert Rauschenberg: Erasing the Rules), November 18, 2017–March 25, 2018. (shown in San Francisco only)



LITERATURE
1990s

Hopps, Walter. Robert Rauschenberg: The Early 1950s. Houston: Menil Collection; Houston Fine Art Press, 1991. Exhibition catalogue. pp. 62–63, 68–70, 100 (pl. 48 [detail]), 101 (pl. 50), 153, as Untitled [vertical black painting] (not exhibited)

Rosenthal, Mark. The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection, 1945 to 1995. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1996. Exhibition catalogue. no. 131, pp. 162–63, 163 (ill.)

2000s

Rosenthal, Stephanie. Black Paintings. Translated by Büro Sieveking. Munich: Haus der Kunst; Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz, 2006. Exhibition catalogue. no. 16, p. 126 (pl. 16) (not exhibited)

Cooper, Harry. The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection: Selected Works. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2009. Exhibition catalogue. pp. 20, 23, 118 (pl. 93)

2010s

Dickerman, Leah, and Achim Borchardt-Hume. Robert Rauschenberg. New York: Museum of Modern Art; London: Tate Publishing, 2016. Exhibition catalogue. p. 55 (pl. 18)