Robert Rauschenberg
Paintings and Sculptures
1948–1953
53.043 / 118
118 Untitled, ca. 1953–55
Oil on canvas
101/8 × 81/8 in. (25.8 × 20.5 cm)
Sonnabend Potamianos-Homem Collection
RRF 53.043

Inscribed on back: TO ILLIANA / + MIKE / SPRING ’61 / 8 X 10 WHT. PAINTING / 1952; on stretcher: Paris

Alternate Title: White Painting


PROVENANCEGaps in the provenance are indicated by “(?)” for a single unidentified owner and “(. . .)” for multiple unidentified owners. See Guide.
Ileana and Michael Sonnabend, Paris, gift of the artist, 1961
Sonnabend Collection Foundation and Antonio Homem, New York, bequest, 2007
Sonnabend Potamianos-Homem Collection, bequest, 2026


EXHIBITIONS
1960s

Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland, Weiss auf Weiss, May 25–July 3, 1966. no. 93

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. 

2010s

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Dancing Around the Bride: Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Rauschenberg, and Duchamp, October 30, 2012–January 21, 2013. Traveled to Barbican Art Gallery, London (as The Bride and the Bachelors: Duchamp with Cage, Cunningham, Rauschenberg and Johns), February 14–June 9, 2013. (not in cat.)

Craig F. Starr Gallery, New York, Robert Rauschenberg: The Fulton Street Studio, 1953–1954, April 4–May 23, 2014. no. 5

Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Azimut/h: Continuità e nuovo (Azimut/h: Continuity and Newness), September 20, 2014–January 19, 2015. 

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. (not shown in London)

2020s

Museum Brandhorst, Munich, Fünf Freunde: John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly (Five Friends: John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly), April 10–August 17, 2025. Traveled to Museum Ludwig, Cologne, October 3, 2025–January 11, 2026. 



LITERATURE
1960s

Weiss auf Weiss. Bern, Switzerland: Kunsthalle Bern, 1966. Exhibition catalogue. no. 93, n.p., as White Painting

1990s

Hopps, Walter. Robert Rauschenberg: The Early 1950s. Houston: Menil Collection; Houston Fine Art Press, 1991. Exhibition catalogue. pp. 164, 169, 209 (pl. 135)

Colpitt, Frances. “Rauschenberg: In the Beginning.” Art in America 80, no. 4 (April 1992). pp. 128–29, as White Lead Painting

Hopps, Walter, and Susan Davidson. Robert Rauschenberg: A Retrospective. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 1997. Exhibition catalogue. p. 555 (not exhibited)

2010s

Robert Rauschenberg: The Fulton Street Studio, 1953–54. New York: Craig F. Starr Gallery, 2014. Exhibition catalogue. no. 5, n.p. (ill.)

Barbero, Luca Massimo. Azimut/h: Continuity and Newness. Venice: Marsilio, 2014. Exhibition catalogue. p. 185 (ill.)

Butler, Karen. “Robert Rauschenberg.” Artforum 52, no. 10 (Summer 2014). p. 367

Dickerman, Leah, and Achim Borchardt-Hume. Robert Rauschenberg. New York: Museum of Modern Art; London: Tate Publishing, 2016. Exhibition catalogue. p. 111 (pl. 70)

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. 24 (ill.), 321