(born 1925) A native of Texas, Rauschenberg taught at Black Mountain College and later collaborated with John Cage and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. One of several influential artists who reacted against the particular seriousness and introspection of abstract expressionism of the 1940s and 1950s, Rauschenberg experimentedwith popular imagery and found objects, incorporating them into more whimsical pieces.

Rather than ignoring the city environment, he incorporated the junk and technology of industrial society into large collages and constructions out of corrugated cardboard that utilized their labels and binding tapes. His work influenced pop art, minimalism and collage work, and continues to influence experimentalists today.