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Robert Rauschenberg
Support, 1973

Two days before Christmas 1972 a major earthquake struck the Nicaraguan capital of Managua, claiming approximately five thousand lives and displacing two-thirds of the city’s 325,000 residents. The devastating event captured international media attention and triggered widespread relief efforts. Robert Rauschenberg responded with Support (1973), a screen print he produced to benefit the Pan American Development Foundation. The print was issued by Styria Studio, New York, in an edition of 250, and proceeds from its sale were intended to provide direct aid to the victims of the disaster.

The print’s references to its tragic context range from oblique to overt. The composition, awash in an orange-yellow haze, includes images of a bald eagle, a postmarked airmail envelope, and multiple views of an ocean sunset. Featured near the center and top third of the print are multiple hands that gesture in what reads like a secret code. Two shadowy figures holding an assortment of colorful balloons face the left side of the composition, one of them pointing toward two counting hands that hover above and to the right of an image of yet another hand completing a crossword puzzle. In what may be the most explicit reference to the earthquake and the effort to help its victims, the tip of the pen in the crossword image points directly toward a reversed solvent transfer of an excerpt from the New York Times’s “Week in Review,” in which the most discernible word is “HELP.”

Overview

Two days before Christmas 1972 a major earthquake struck the Nicaraguan capital of Managua, claiming approximately five thousand lives and displacing two-thirds of the city’s 325,000 residents. The devastating event captured international media attention and triggered widespread relief efforts. Robert Rauschenberg responded with Support (1973), a screen print he produced to benefit the Pan American Development Foundation. The print was issued by Styria Studio, New York, in an edition of 250, and proceeds from its sale were intended to provide direct aid to the victims of the disaster.

The print’s references to its tragic context range from oblique to overt. The composition, awash in an orange-yellow haze, includes images of a bald eagle, a postmarked airmail envelope, and multiple views of an ocean sunset. Featured near the center and top third of the print are multiple hands that gesture in what reads like a secret code. Two shadowy figures holding an assortment of colorful balloons face the left side of the composition, one of them pointing toward two counting hands that hover above and to the right of an image of yet another hand completing a crossword puzzle. In what may be the most explicit reference to the earthquake and the effort to help its victims, the tip of the pen in the crossword image points directly toward a reversed solvent transfer of an excerpt from the New York Times’s “Week in Review,” in which the most discernible word is “HELP.”

Ownership, Exhibition, and Publication Histories

Ownership History

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, gift of Argosy Partners and Bond Street Partners, New York, 1980

Exhibition History

Exhibition history not provided for multiples.

Publication History

This work has not been published. This listing has been reviewed and is complete as of August 31, 2016.

Marks and Inscriptions

Recto: Lower right edge, signature with inscription in pencil in the artist’s hand: “RAUSCHENBERG 198/250 73”; lower left corner, embossed chop mark for Styria Studio

Verso: None

Artwork Info

Artwork title
Support
Date created
1973
Classification
print
Medium
screenprint
Dimensions
30 in. × 21 15/16 in. (76.2 cm × 55.72 cm)
Date acquired
1980
Credit
Collection SFMOMA
Gift of Argosy Partners and Bond Street Partners, New York
Copyright
© Robert Rauschenberg Foundation; published by Styria Studio
Permanent URL
https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/80.107
Artwork status
Not on view at this time.

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