Robert Rauschenberg, an American pop artist and pioneer of his industry, died at the age of 82 this week.

Rauschenberg, who had been ill for some time, was described by the New York Times as a ‘Titan’ of art. He was born in 1925 in Texas.

Rauschenberg was a pioneer of an art style dubbed the ‘Combines’, which merges painting with sculpture. It wasn’t until the sixties that Rauschenberg moved into pop art, inspired as so many were by the works of Andy Warhol. Rauschenberg began using contemporary photography in his art with photos of public figures, including JFK.

As well as silkscreen painting (like Warhol) Rauschenberg also participated in performance art and set design.
One of Rauschenberg’s works was a painting created on his bed quilt using household items such as toothpaste. His reasoning for this was that he had an idea and didn’t have any canvas or paint to hand.
Rauschenberg even won a Grammy Award for the album cover for the Talking Heads work, Speaking in Tongues.