{"type":"artobject","objectid":51624,"objectnumber":"2006-824","sortnumber":"2006  824","displaytitle":"Booster","department":"Prints and Drawings","classification":"Prints","datebegin":1967,"dateend":1967,"datecomputed":1967,"daterange":"A.D. 1945-present","displaydate":"1967","medium":"Color lithograph and screenprint on Curtis Rag moldmade paper","dimensions":"182.9 x 90.2 cm. (72 x 35 1/2 in.)\r\nframe: 191.4 × 99.3 × 3.7 cm (75 3/8 × 39 1/8 × 1 7/16 in.)","dimensionsproposed":"","creditline":"Museum purchase, Laura P. Hall Memorial Fund and Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund in honor of John Wilmerding, Christopher B. Sarofim '86 Professor of American Art","markings":"Stamped on verso, bottom left: GEMINI G.E.L./ LOS ANGELES, CALIF\r\nCopyright and Gemini blindstamps, bottom right","inscribed":"Signed, numbered, and dated in graphite, bottom right: Rauschenberg 10//38 67\r\nWorkshop number in graphite, verso bottom left: RR-67-106\r\n","signed":null,"catalograisonne":"Foster 47; Gemini 41.9 (previously Gemini 32)","creditlinerepro":"Art © Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and Gemini G.E.L./Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY","restrictions":"Restricted","nowebuse":"False","secondaryobjectnumber":null,"campuscollections":"false","on_view":true,"accessionyear":"2006-01-01","newaccession":0,"titles":[{"title":"Booster","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"makers":[{"id":12874,"displayname":"Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles","displaydate":null,"datebegin":1966,"dateend":0,"prefix":"Published by","suffix":null,"role":"Publisher","displaymaker":"Published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles","displayorder":3},{"id":12874,"displayname":"Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles","displaydate":null,"datebegin":1966,"dateend":0,"prefix":"Printed by Kenneth Tyler at","suffix":null,"role":"Printer","displaymaker":"Printed by Kenneth Tyler at Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles","displayorder":2},{"id":3179,"displayname":"Robert Rauschenberg","displaydate":"1925–2008; born Port Arthur, TX; died Captiva Island, FL; active New York, NY, and Captiva Island","datebegin":1925,"dateend":2008,"prefix":null,"suffix":null,"role":"Artist","displaymaker":"Robert Rauschenberg, 1925–2008; born Port Arthur, TX; died Captiva Island, FL; active New York, NY, and Captiva Island","displayorder":1}],"depicted":[],"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Handbook Entry","textentryhtml":"\r\nIn 1967, Robert Rauschenberg, already internationally recognized as an innovative printmaker, tested the traditional limits of the medium by creating a technically brilliant life-sized self-portrait that was, at the time, the largest lithograph ever pulled from a hand-operated press.</P><I>\r\nBooster</I> is an essay on the artist’s fascination with space exploration and on the representation of the human body as an elaborate machine for movement, two themes that run throughout much of Rauschenberg’s work. The artist first made a series of composite X-rays of his nude body, and then transferred the negatives photographically onto lithographic plates to provide a contemporary <I>memento mori </I>that is the central core of the image. Surrounding it is a group of smaller motifs rubbed directly from magazine illustrations collected by Rauschenberg. These include several from a 1962 issue of <I>Life</I> containing an article on the Mercury space program and one comparing the human skeletal structure to the workings of machines. Screenprinted over all is a celestial chart for the year&nbsp;1967. </P></SPAN>","remarks":null},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"Collection of Hans and Alice de Jong, Hengelo/Ascona; [Sotheby's, New York, Prints Sale, November 2-3, 2006, lot 674]; purchased by the Princeton University Art Museum, 2006.","remarks":"Purchase Price: $54,000"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"<i>Booster </i>tested the limits of printmaking. Working with master printmaker Kenneth Tyler, Rauschenberg created a life-size portrait that was at the time the largest lithograph ever pulled from a hand-operated press. Inspired by space exploration and the human body as a machine for movement, Rauschenberg began with composite X-rays of his body and incorporated imagery of autobiographical significance: a chair that recurs as a prop in his early performances, imagery from a 1962 Life magazine article on the Project Mercury spaceflight program, and images from an article comparing the human skeletal structure to the workings of machines. Tyler excelled at mixing techniques; he transferred the X-rays to lithographic plates and screenprinted a celestial chart for the year over the entire composition. Tyler was also a close collaborator with Rauschenberg’s contemporaries Jasper Johns and Helen Frankenthaler, whose prints are on view in this gallery.","remarks":"MOD_09-12_WLA – Day 1 Cataloguing"}],"media":[{"id":14184,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2006-824","isprimary":1,"rank":1,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Bruce White Photography"}],"hasimage":"true","bibliography":[{"boilertext":"\"Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2006,\" <em>Record of the Princeton University Art Museum </em>66 (2007): p. 41-74.","citation":"\"Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2006,\" <em>Record of the Princeton University Art Museum </em>66 (2007): p. 41-74., p. 54, illustrated p. 50","date":2007,"id":3000,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/20442628"},{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection</i> (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection</i> (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 304, illustrated","date":2007,"id":474,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/191864564"},{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 356","date":2013,"id":1994,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/865020505"}],"exhibitions":[{"exhibitionid":3573,"citation":"Time Capsule 1970: Rauschenberg's Currents Saturday, January 19, 2019 - Sunday, September 19, 2021","isvirtual":true,"begindate":"2019-01-19","enddate":"2021-09-19","uri":"https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/exhibitions/3573"},{"exhibitionid":1280,"citation":"Artist as Image (Saturday, February 20, 2010 - Sunday, May 16, 2010)","isvirtual":true,"begindate":"2010-02-20","enddate":"2010-05-16","uri":"https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/exhibitions/1280"},{"exhibitionid":961,"citation":"An Educated Eye: The Princeton University Art Museum Collection (Friday, February 22, 2008 - Sunday, June 15, 2008)","isvirtual":true,"begindate":"2008-02-22","enddate":"2008-06-15","uri":"https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/exhibitions/961"}],"geography":[{"displaygeography":"Place made: North America, United States, California, Los Angeles","code":"Place made","continent":"North America","subcontinent":null,"country":"United States","region":null,"state":"California","city":"Los Angeles","county":null,"subregion":null,"locale":null,"locus":null,"river":null,"excavation":null,"geoname":"http://www.geonames.org/5368361/los-angeles.html","location":{"lat":"","lon":""}}],"terms":[{"id":2098887,"term":"x-rays","aatid":300056058,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2087595,"term":"space stations","aatid":300008030,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2059407,"term":"blue","aatid":300129361,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2061154,"term":"white (color)","aatid":300129784,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2061306,"term":"black","aatid":300130920,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2064952,"term":"chair","aatid":300037772,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2120704,"term":"calendar","aatid":300026741,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2045298,"term":"skeleton","aatid":300191778,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2038492,"term":"American","aatid":300107956,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2054589,"term":"planographic prints","aatid":300178376,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2054605,"term":"color lithographs","aatid":300041383,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2167709,"term":"lithographic ink","aatid":300187750,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2167714,"term":"printing ink","aatid":300187371,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2154563,"term":"screen printing","aatid":300053281,"termtype":"Techniques"},{"id":2155010,"term":"lithography","aatid":300053271,"termtype":"Techniques"},{"id":2156299,"term":"mounting","aatid":300081370,"termtype":"Techniques"}],"classifications":[{"id":2054589,"classification":"planographic prints"},{"id":2054605,"classification":"color lithographs"}],"cultures":[],"cultureterms":[{"id":2038492,"culture":"American"}],"periods":[],"periodterms":[],"attribute_groups":[{"id":2199324,"term":"Art Since 1945","termtype":"Collecting Area"},{"id":2199325,"term":"North American Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"},{"id":2199327,"term":"Prints and Drawings","termtype":"Collecting Area"}],"dimensionelements":[{"element":"frame","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"191.40"},{"element":"frame","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"99.30"},{"element":"frame","type":"Depth","units":"centimeters","dimension":"3.70"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"182.90"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"90.20"}],"packages":[{"packageid":206417,"name":"image_descriptions_top250"},{"packageid":211430,"name":"PUAM_Materials and Techniques"},{"packageid":278831,"name":"10282025-DAY1-ONVIEW"},{"packageid":219380,"name":"Gallery_10-12(Pavilion3)-ModernContemporary"},{"packageid":220938,"name":"web_2000-2022printacquisitions"},{"packageid":192740,"name":"PUAM_Transition to Modern Art"},{"packageid":196700,"name":"MoCo-Pop art"},{"packageid":197269,"name":"web_highlights -revised 2021"}],"primaryimage":["https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2006-824"],"displaymaker":"Robert Rauschenberg, 1925–2008; born Port Arthur, TX; died Captiva Island, FL; active New York, NY, and Captiva Island | Printed by Kenneth Tyler at Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles | Published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles","displayculture":null,"displayperiod":null,"caption":"Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008; born Port Arthur, TX; died Captiva Island, FL; active New York, NY, and Captiva Island), Printed by Kenneth Tyler at Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, Published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, Booster, 1967. Color lithograph and screenprint on Curtis Rag moldmade paper; 182.9 x 90.2 cm, 191.4 × 99.3 × 3.7 cm (frame). Museum purchase, Laura P. Hall Memorial Fund and Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund in honor of John Wilmerding, Christopher B. Sarofim '86 Professor of American Art (2006-824)","captionhtml":"Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008; born Port Arthur, TX; died Captiva Island, FL; active New York, NY, and Captiva Island), Printed by Kenneth Tyler at Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, Published by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, <i>Booster</i>, 1967. Color lithograph and screenprint on Curtis Rag moldmade paper; 182.9 x 90.2 cm, 191.4 × 99.3 × 3.7 cm (frame). Museum purchase, Laura P. Hall Memorial Fund and Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund in honor of John Wilmerding, Christopher B. Sarofim '86 Professor of American Art (2006-824)","published_date":"2026-03-31 02:38:21.019260","campusart":[{"campuscollections":"false","campusart":0,"neighborhood":null,"lat":null,"lon":null}],"extended_content":false}