Robert Rauschenberg was a key player in American post-war art and is considered a pioneer of Pop Art, Minimalism, and Conceptual Art. He started studying at the Kansas City Art Institute in 1947 and travelled to Paris the year after. Upon his return, he went to study with Josef Albers at Black Mountain College. At the Art Students League in New York, he met Cy Twombly and travelled through Europe and North Africa with him for several months in 1952/53. In Morocco, he made his first collages and assemblages. Back in the USA, he further developed this technique until he accomplished his 'Combines', mingling various techniques such as painting, sculpture and silk-screen printing. In 1953, he met Jasper Johns; the two artists were called 'Neo-Dadaists' and were the most well known opponents of Abstract Expressionism. In 1964, Rauschenberg became the first American artist to receive the Grand Prize for Painting at the Venice Biennale. In 1970, he moved to Captiva Island in Florida, where he intensively dealt with silk-screen printing and the impression method, using both techniques for his works. He frequently travelled and worked with artisans and workshops all around the world in the context of his 'Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange' project.
