Robert Rauschenberg
Paintings and Sculptures
1948–1953
53.002 / 110
110 Pink Clay Painting (To Pete), 1953
Clay and nails on wood, in wood frame
85/8 × 83/4 in. (22 × 22.2 cm)
The Menil Collection, Houston, Purchased with funds provided by the Scaler Foundation, in memory of Frances Dittmer (2014-7)
RRF 53.002

Inscribed on back, upper right: To PETE / RAUSCHENBERG / 1953


PROVENANCEGaps in the provenance are indicated by “(?)” for a single unidentified owner and “(. . .)” for multiple unidentified owners. See Guide.
Paul Taylor, New York, gift of the artist, ca. 1954–58
[Sotheby’s, New York, May 15, 2014, lot 160]
The Menil Collection, Houston, purchase at above, 2014


EXHIBITIONS
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)

2000s

Peter Freeman, New York, Nothing and Everything, September 7–October 28, 2006. Traveled to Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, November 30, 2006–January 27, 2007. 

2010s

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. 

2020s

Menil Collection, Houston, Abstraction After Modernism: Recent Acquisitions, April 26–August 25, 2024. 



LITERATURE
1990s

Hopps, Walter. Robert Rauschenberg: The Early 1950s. Houston: Menil Collection; Houston Fine Art Press, 1991. Exhibition catalogue. pp. 162, 212 (pl. 138)

Hopps, Walter, and Susan Davidson. Robert Rauschenberg: A Retrospective. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 1997. Exhibition catalogue. p. 554 (not exhibited)

Taylor, Paul. Private Domain: An Autobiography. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1999. pp. 59–60

2000s

Nothing and Everything. San Francisco: Fraenkel Gallery, 2006. Exhibition catalogue. frontispiece (ill.)

2010s

Dickerman, Leah, and Achim Borchardt-Hume. Robert Rauschenberg. New York: Museum of Modern Art; London: Tate Publishing, 2016. Exhibition catalogue. p. 105 (pl. 65)