Robert Rauschenberg
Paintings and Sculptures
1948–1953
52.022 / 61
61 Untitled (Scatole e Feticci Personali), ca. 1953
Wood box, paint, printed paper, bird skull, paper, fabric, corrugated paper, seashells, twine, ribbon, and beads
Box (closed): 23/8 × 51/2 × 31/8 in. (6 × 14 × 7.9 cm)
The Menil Collection, Houston, Purchased with funds provided by an anonymous donor (1992-04 DJ)
RRF 52.022


PROVENANCEGaps in the provenance are indicated by “(?)” for a single unidentified owner and “(. . .)” for multiple unidentified owners. See Guide.
Cy Twombly
[Mary Velma Twombly, Lexington, Va., by deposit]
[public sale, Richard D. Shull, auctioneer, Lexington, Va., February 4, 1989]
Pamela and Henry Simpson, Lexington, Va., purchase at above, 1989
[Sotheby’s, New York, May 7, 1992, lot 298]
The Menil Collection, Houston, purchase at above, 1992


EXHIBITIONS
1950s

Galleria d’Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Scatole e costruzioni contemplative di Bob Rauschenberg, opened March 14, 1953. (likely shown)

Galleria dell’Obelisco, Rome, Bob Rauschenberg: Scatole e feticci personali, March 3–10, 1953. (likely shown)

1990s

Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Robert Rauschenberg: The Early 1950s, June 15–August 11, 1991. Organized by Menil Collection, Houston. Traveled to Menil Collection, Houston, September 27, 1991–January 5, 1992; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, February 8–April 19, 1992; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, May 14–August 16, 1992; Guggenheim Museum SoHo, New York, October 24, 1992–January 24, 1993. (shown in New York only)

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Robert Rauschenberg: A Retrospective, September 19, 1997–January 7, 1998 (also Guggenheim Museum SoHo, New York, September 19, 1997–January 4, 1998, and Ace Gallery, New York, September 19–November 9, 1997). Traveled to Menil Collection, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 13–May 17, 1998; Museum Ludwig, Cologne (as Robert Rauschenberg: Retrospektive), June 27–October 11, 1998; Museo Guggenheim Bilbao (as Robert Rauschenberg: Retrospectiva), November 21, 1998–March 7, 1999. (not in cat.; not shown in New York)

2000s

Dallas Museum of Art, Dialogues: Duchamp, Cornell, Johns, Rauschenberg, September 4, 2005–January 8, 2006. no. 37

Menil Collection, Houston, How Artists Draw: Toward the Menil Drawing Institute and Study Center, February 15–May 18, 2008. 



LITERATURE
1990s

Hopps, Walter. Robert Rauschenberg: The Early 1950s. Houston: Menil Collection; Houston Fine Art Press, 1991. Exhibition catalogue. p. 139 (pl. 86)

2000s

Kosinski, Dorothy. Dialogues: Duchamp, Cornell, Johns, Rauschenberg. Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art; New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2005. Exhibition catalogue. no. 37, p. 46 (ill.)

Cullinan, Nicholas. “Double Exposure: Robert Rauschenberg’s and Cy Twombly’s Roman Holiday.” Burlington Magazine 150, no. 1264 (July 2008). p. 468 (fig. 36)

2010s

Dickerman, Leah, and Achim Borchardt-Hume. Robert Rauschenberg. New York: Museum of Modern Art; London: Tate Publishing, 2016. Exhibition catalogue. p. 84 (pl. 48) (not exhibited)

2020s

Becker, Anne-Grit. Cy Twombly und Robert Rauschenberg: Bilder im Prozess. Munich: Metzel, 2020. p. 96 (fig. 29)