Untitled

1948

Follows Susan Weil to Black Mountain to study with Albers

At the Académie Julian in Paris Rauschenberg met fellow student Susan Weil and at that time changed his name from Milton to Robert; in 1948 he followed her to Black Mountain College in North Carolina. He went in search of Josef Albers, whom he had read about in Time magazine, hoping that the rigour of a founder of the Bauhaus would cure his habitual sloppiness — and became, in his own words, “Albers' dunce”.

1949

Settles in New York and dresses shop windows

In 1949 Rauschenberg settled in New York, earning his living as a window dresser and attending the Art Students League. Throughout the 1950s he designed window displays for Tiffany & Co. and Bonwit Teller, first with Susan Weil and later with Jasper Johns under the joint pseudonym Matson Jones.

1949–1952

Meets Cy Twombly at the Art Students League

From 1949 to 1952 Rauschenberg studied at the Art Students League of New York under Vaclav Vytlacil and Morris Kantor and met fellow artists Knox Martin and Cy Twombly there.

summer 1950

Marries the artist Susan Weil

In the summer of 1950 Rauschenberg married Susan Weil at her family's home on Outer Island, Connecticut. Their only child, Christopher, later a photographer, was born on 16 July 1951.

spring 1951

First solo show, at the Betty Parsons Gallery

In the spring of 1951 the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York gave Rauschenberg his first solo exhibition. It found no favour with the critics.

1951

Son born: Christopher Rauschenberg