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License

Date
1962
Material
Lithograph
Classification
Prints
Current Location
Not on view
Dimensions
image: 39 × 27 in. (99.1 × 68.6 cm)
sheet: 41 1/8 × 29 3/8 in. (104.5 × 74.6 cm)
framed: 46 × 34 1/8 in. (116.8 × 86.7 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Richard K. Weil
Rights
© Robert Rauschenberg Foundation
Object Number
142:1973
NOTES
Regarding the medium of lithography, used here, Robert Rauschenberg famously stated, “I began lithography reluctantly, thinking that the second half of the 20th century was no time to start writing on rocks.” He was referring to the extremely heavy, usually limestone, surface used to make lithographs. Eventually Tatyana Grosman, the intrepid and tenacious founder of ULAE, convinced Rauschenberg to do so and works such as License were among the first of his to emerge from the printshop.

During the heyday of the graphic arts boom, printmakers began to rethink the format and scale of traditional prints. Artists like Rauschenberg, who were accustomed to the expanses of painting and sculpture, pushed their collaborating publishers to think big. Closing in on four feet high, here the printmaking team made use of the full breadth of the sheet, showing signs of the substantial sizes to come.

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