Mark, from the portfolio, Dante’s Inferno

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Copied Robert Rauschenberg, Mark, from the portfolio, Dante's Inferno, 1964, lithograph on paper, sheet and image: 15 5⁄8 x 16 1⁄8 in. (39.7 x 41.0 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Library of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 1990.5.8

Artwork Details

Title
Mark, from the portfolio, Dante’s Inferno
Artist
Publisher
Universal Limited Art Editions
Date
1964
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
sheet and image: 15 5⁄8 x 16 1⁄8 in. (39.7 x 41.0 cm)
Credit Line
Transfer from the Library of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Mediums Description
lithograph on paper
Classifications
Keywords
  • Architecture — vehicle — airplane
  • Occupation — political — president
  • Figure male — full length
  • Literature — Dante — Inferno
  • Portrait male — Johnson, Lyndon B. — bust
Object Number
1990.5.8
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1990.5.8

Artwork Description

In Mark, Robert Rauschenberg used clippings about current events to comment on the politics of war. President Lyndon B. Johnson, who increased U.S. involvement in Vietnam in 1963, addresses the public through a television screen. At the top, a military place is beside an inverted image of outstretched arms holding a rifle. The work captures a moment when the country was fiercely divided between those who supported the war and those who advocated for peace.


Pop Art Prints, 2014