Untitled (Early Egyptian) 1973

Editor: This assemblage sculpture, "Untitled (Early Egyptian)" by Robert Rauschenberg, made in 1973, utilizes found objects like cardboard boxes, a bicycle frame, and various other scraps. The beige and brown color palette creates a muted and almost desolate feeling for me. What formal elements stand out to you in this piece? Curator: The immediate point of interest is, of course, the stark contrast between the industrial components and what one might infer from the title to be their referent: Egypt. Rauschenberg manipulates the visual weight of each object. Observe the juxtaposition of the bicycle's linearity against the stacked, block-like cardboard forms. The negative space created within the bicycle frame and the open boxes is as crucial as the solid mass of the objects themselves. Do you perceive any sense of rhythm or visual pattern being created here? Editor: I see how the repeated rectangular shapes of the cardboard create a kind of order, and then the bicycle wheel contrasts with its circular form. So the sculpture really plays with geometric forms, contrasting straight and curved lines...but the materials undermine that sense of stability? Curator: Precisely. The ephemeral nature of cardboard, juxtaposed with the implied permanence suggested by "Early Egyptian," sets up a fascinating tension. Further, note how the texture of the cardboard—its rough, tactile quality—invites closer inspection. Rauschenberg is asking us to consider the materiality of everyday life, no? Editor: So the very construction, the selection and arrangement of these forms, encourages the viewer to consider how modern and ancient forms might relate…or not! Thanks, I never would have seen so much there at first glance. Curator: Indeed. Considering form and materiality encourages us to rethink simple assumptions of historical and cultural permanence, doesn't it?