Robert Rauschenberg

The Fifth Veil

18 November - 23 December 2020

Robert Rauschenberg The Fifth Veil is an exhibition that focuses on three lithographs that the artist made at Universal Limited Art Editions on Long Island in 1974-75: Treaty (1974), Kitty Hawk (1974), and Kill Devil Hill (1975). In the sequence of Rauschenberg’s print output, these works immediately follow a series of four lithographs titled Veils 1-4 (1974) that each depict an isolated image of a neckerchief that belonged to ULAE’s founder, Tatyana Grosman. The image of a fifth Veil was recorded in the same proofing session, and though it was not published as an individual print, the image would appear in the three aforementioned lithographs among an array of layered images. Many of the images that appear alongside the Veil are Rauschenberg’s own photographs that were taken in and around the print studio including paper bags, cheesecloth, a child’s shirt, and a fire exit sign. One particularly notable image of a mangled bicycle appears in both Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hill, which may be recognizable to some viewers as a tribute to the Wright Brothers, whose bicycle business in Dayton, Ohio, largely funded their early experiments in modern aviation. The assembly of these three works offers a rare opportunity to delve into Rauschenberg and ULAE’s experimental approach to printmaking on a large scale. Click here to see our Veils exhibition from 2018.