Joan Mitchell And Robert Rauschenberg Centennial Celebrations

Forbes

08-05-2025

Joan Mitchell, 'Sans neige' (1969). Collection of the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, purchased with funds provided by the Hillman Foundation; © Estate of Joan Mitchell.
Two titans of modern art are being celebrated in 2025 on the occasion of what would have been their 100th birthdays. Joan Mitchell (1925–1992) was a leading Abstract Expressionist whose big, bold paintings showed off vibrant colors and vigorous brushstrokes, often executed over multiple canvases. Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008) merged painting and sculpture in his 'Combines' series (1954–1964) redefining both mediums, establishing himself as one of the most innovative and revolutionary artists of the 20th century.
Events and exhibitions around the world honor the duo.
Robert Rauschenberg, 'Monogram,' 1955–59. Combine: oil, paper, fabric, printed paper, printed reproductions, metal, wood, rubber shoe heel, and tennis ball on canvas with oil and rubber tire on Angora goat on wood platform mounted on four casters 42 x 63 1/4 x 64 1/2 in. (106.7 x 160.7 x 163.8 cm) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Purchase 1965 with contribution from The Friends of Moderna Museet (The Museum of Our Wishes) © Robert Rauschenberg Foundation
A slate of international exhibitions including seven major institutional presentations and activities exposing the breadth of Robert Rauschenberg's transdisciplinary and collaborative practice are being unveiled this year and next. The kickoff occurs at Gladstone gallery (530 West 21st Street New York, NY) with the first survey of Rauschenberg's sculptural practice in 30 years. Debuting on May 1, the presentation focuses on his production from the 1950s through the late 1990s.
'Rauschenberg, for many people, is an artist that really is inspiring,' Executive Director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Courtney J. Martin told Forbes.com. 'As an art historian, when I taught, I would say this is the person that broke with the (Abstract Expressionism) tradition to move into installation, performance, multimedia. You'd never question that an artist now was both a painter and a dancer, whereas when he starts to mix media in the 50s, it's groundbreaking.'
The original multihyphenate.
Hand in hand with not limiting his production to one medium, he relished the opportunity of working with other artists.
'He talked about collaboration being his best and most productive way of working, that he liked doing things with other people. I also can say from this side of it, when you look at the work produced, I do think his best work was produced out of collaboration,' Martin said. 'Working with Tricia Brown, working with John Cage, working with Merce Cunningham, entering into the world of dance and performance, lots has been fleshed out about that kind of interaction, less so other kinds of collaborations. A long-standing relationship with the master printers and lithographers at Gemini G.E.L. and ULAE to make prints and other serially based work. Seeking out people who knew another medium, both to try out that medium, ultimately, to learn how to do it, but then to produce things that he could not have done by himself, would not have been possible.'
Even later in his career when he could have done the work alone.
'By the time he gets to Captiva (Florida) and has that (litho) press there, he knows enough to do this by himself, but he doesn't want to. He wants to do it with other people,' Martin said.
His interest in working with other artists evolved into helping other artists once his career took off. When Rauschenberg won the grand prize for painting at the Venice Biennale in 1964, the first American to do so, his exhibition was aided by a performance of dancers from the Merce Cunningham Dance Studio. Rauschenberg shared some of his prize money to support the travel of the dancers.
He launched a non-profit foundation, Change, Inc., in 1970 to assist his peers across all disciplines in need of emergency aid. Rauschenberg was big on direct aide to artists in times of unexpected crisis.
'Change Inc. allowed for people who had these unforeseeable things happen to them–fires, medical issues, problems with their children–anything that went on, and there was so little infrastructure (to support artists), (Raushenberg) said, call with your need… and (Change Inc.) would give out small grants to people to then use immediately to help solve their problems,' Martin explained.
The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation continues this tradition of emergency grants for artists and cultural workers. The Foundation has supported artists and arts workers recently impacted by the Altadena wildfires and Hurricane Helene.
The artist's wide-ranging and enduring commitment to philanthropy will be mirrored in a series of Centennial grants funding conservation, exhibitions, performances, publications, and public programs across the globe throughout the year. In keeping with Rauschenberg's commitment to collaborative and international engagement, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation has invited institutions around the world with Rauschenberg holdings to honor the artist by mounting dedicated installations of his work from their permanent collections. To date, 22 institutions have received support related to exhibitions, scholarship, conservation, performances, educational programming, and more.
Joan Mitchell in her Vétheuil studio, 1983. Photograph by Robert Freson, Joan Mitchell Foundation Archives, © Joan Mitchell Foundation.
Fulfilling Joan Mitchell's mandate to 'aid and assist' living artists, her foundation, likewise, has supported a range of initiatives directly supporting more than 1,300 visual artists at varying stages of their careers over the past 30-plus years, providing more than $21 million in funding to artists.
When the 2025 wildfires in Southern California displaced artists, the Joan Mitchell Foundation was there. When COVID made earning a living nearly impossible for artists, the Joan Mitchell Foundation was there.
Additionally, the Joan Mitchell Fellowship gives annual unrestricted awards of $60,000 directly to artists working in the evolving fields of painting and sculpture, with funds distributed over a five-year period alongside learning, peer engagement, and network-building opportunities.
Past recipients have included Firelei Báez, Radcliff Bailey, Chakia Booker, Mark Bradford, and Julie Buffalohead. That only gets you through the 'B's' in the alphabet as a demonstration of the profound impact of the fellowship.
The New Orleans-based Joan Mitchell Center hosts residencies for national and local artists, complemented by professional development offerings, open studio events, and other public programs that encourage dialogue and exchange with the local community.
The philanthropic work of Mitchell's foundation may seem at odds with her bad ass, chain smoking, athletic, wiry-thin Chicago persona. Despite a socialite's upbringing, she always had a chip on her shoulder, likely the result of an unpleasable father who wanted a boy. Mitchell's dad mistakenly wrote 'John' on Joan's birth certificate.
Mitchell eventually moved to New York after study at the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago, then to Paris fulltime in 1959, and ultimately to the bucolic French countryside of Vétheuil where she'd spend the remainder of her life.
'People continue to be drawn to Mitchell's work because the physical and emotional force behind it are so present on the surface of every painting,' Sarah Roberts, Joan Mitchell Foundation, Senior Director of Curatorial Affairs, said in a video on the Joan Mitchell Foundation website announcing Mitchell 100. 'You feel the energy that she brought to bear to make the work, you feel the landscapes that she was referring to, the memories, and what they must have brought forth for her. Mitchell had a truly extraordinary sense of color, the way that she was able to orchestrate color across the surface of a painting, and that resonates both with artists, but also anyone who sees a Joan Mitchell painting.'
More than 70 museums across the United States, France, and Australia will display nearly 100 works by Mitchell over the course of the year. Among the 52 museums in the U.S., presentations range from major art museums like the Art Institute of Chicago (exhibiting City Landscape, 1955), the Whitney Museum of American Art (showcasing Hemlock, 1956); the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC (exhibiting Cercando un Ago, 1959); and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (with two works on view, including Bracket, 1989); to important regional institutions such as the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh and the Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama, and academic museums like the Colby College Museum of Art in Maine and the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, TX.
To support these efforts, the Joan Mitchell Foundation has awarded conservation grants to 11 American institutions, totaling about $70,000, to address essential preservation needs that will help ensure these Mitchell works remain accessible to the public now and in the future.
From August 1st through 31st, 2025, The Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans will present an alumni exhibition, reflecting on the ten-year impact of the residency program as one aspect of Mitchell's legacy. The genius of Mitchell's painting is challenged by the monumental impact of her foundation when considering the artist's legacy.
In Europe, more than a dozen institutions are joining the celebration from the Centre Pompidou in Paris, to the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lisbon.
Additionally, in Australia, the National Gallery of Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria will both have Mitchell works on view.
Celebrations wrap up from November 6 through December 13, 2025, with an exhibition at David Zwirner's Chelsea gallery in New York exploring Mitchell's work from the mid-1960s.
A full list and interactive map of participating institutions is available on the Foundation's website and will be updated regularly.
This year also sees the publication of two books on Joan Mitchell, including the first children's book focusing on the artist, 'Joan Mitchell Paints a Symphony: La Grande Vallée Suite' by Lisa Rogers, with illustrations by Stacy Innerst (Astra Publishing House), and 'Joan Mitchell et ses chiens / Joan Mitchell and her dogs,' written by Laura Morris, Director of Archives and Research at the Joan Mitchell Foundation (Editions Norma), available in French and English. German shepherds appeared to be her favorite.
Finally, the Foundation digitally released a documentary film on Mitchell available for free on its website that has been unviewable for many years.