Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Iconoclastic, generous, inventive, impulsive, sensitive, gregarious, prodigious, always amazing these are just some of the words to describe Robert Rauschenberg and the art he has been making for the past 40 years. In this book the only fully illustrated account of his life prepared with his full cooperation we come face to face with Rauschenberg, one of the towering artists of the twentieth century.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Rauschenberg, enfant terrible of American modernism in the 1950s and '60s, is now an ambassador for global good will. ROCI (Rauschenberg Overseas Cultural Interchange), an organization he founded in 1984, sponsors art exhibits and fosters cross-cultural collaborations with the aim of promoting world peace. Kotz's admiring, richly illustrated biography-cum-appreciation of ``Poppa Pop'' charts his boyhood escape from the conformity of the oil town of Port Arthur, Tex., his formative years at Black Mountain College, his political activism in the service of civil rights and peace, and above all, his restless experimentation blurring the boundaries of painting, sculpture, photography and printmaking. A contributing editor to ARTnews , Kotz scans the varied facets of Rauschenberg's output, including his color drawings for Dante's Inferno , his sets for Merce Cunningham's dances, the cardboard-box constructions and the sensual fabric collages and mud sculptures inspired by a 1975 trip to India. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

CHOICE Review

Mary Lynn Kotz, author of Upstairs at the White House (1974), Marvella, a Personal Journey (1979), and A Passion for Equality (1977), has written what should become the definitive text on Robert Rauschenberg and his art of the past 40 years. With the artist's cooperation and with interviews of everyone who was important to Rauschenberg over the course of six decades, Kotz has managed to compile a personalized and up-to-date biography of one of the towering geniuses of the 20th century, presenting a richly impressive portrait of the artist with several hundred illustrations, 92 of which are in color. Pictures of the artist, his family, and friends are interspersed with photographs of scores of his works of art: paintings, combines, prints, and constructions. A special feature of the book is the many reproductions, seen for the first time, of his most recent and significant project--ROCI (Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange)--a continually evolving body of work developed and exhibited worldwide. Kotz has included a copious selection of material in the endnotes, a chronology, a collections and exhibitions section, and a bibliography. Highest praise and recommendation for all libraries. -G. A. Anderson, Hendrix College

Booklist Review

Kotz traces the life and career of American artist Robert Rauschenberg through a narrative that investigates the various stages, developments, and experiments of his artistic life. Beginning with some of Rauschenberg's latest activities around the world involving prints created in the cause of cultural exchange, Kotz also covers his work as a theatrical designer and performer. Rauschenberg's more recognizable efforts as painter, printmaker, and sculptor--these media are very much mixed in many of his works--are also well documented, both in Kotz's descriptions and in a series of excellent illustrations. Some details of the artist's private life are noted, but this is a thoroughly professional account that effectively focuses on Rauschenberg's varied creations. Notes, chronology, bibliography; index. ~--John Brosnahan