CANTO XVIII
Image Size: 36.8 x 29.2 cm (14 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches)
Overall Size: 44 x 43.5 cms (17 1/4 x 17 inches)
'Dante expresses his disgust with the corrupt clergy: "I saw among felons of that pit 1 wraith who might or might not have been tonsured —one could not tell, he was so smeared with shit."
This is a flatterer condemned to the steaming pit of excrement in company with the great whore Thais. Rauschenberg with a murky wash, reveals both up to their noses in the revolting river, with the tragic eyes of Thais reflected in the mess."
This print is from the 'Deluxe Portfolio' of Robert Rauschenberg XXXIV Drawings for Dante's Inferno, produced in an edition of 300 of which this comes from #122, published by Harry N. Abrams in 1965.
Between 1959 and 1960 Robert Rauschenberg created a series of 34 images to represent each canto of Dante Alighieri's nferno. The original works combined transfer (images transferred with a chemical solvent from glossy magazines), collage techniques, and his own drawings in a variety of mediums including pencil, gouache and crayon. All 34 of the original works were gifted, anonymously, to the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1963.
The lithographs were created from the original drawings in their original sizes and were impeccably reproduced and printed in the Netherlands. Each of the prints is 'tipped' into it's own folder which is printed with the Canto number on the front in Roman numerals, as originally issued. A copy of the signature on the portfolio's colophon and relevant information is included with this item.