blueprints (1949–51)

In 1949, Susan Weil introduced Rauschenberg to the method of exposing blueprint paper at her family home in Outer Island, Connecticut. Weil and Rauschenberg worked together on a series of blueprint works through 1951, exposing the paper to light and using objects and human subjects to make impressions. The works were featured in a 1951 article in Life magazine. Miniature versions would be used by Rauschenberg in some of the Combines. The blueprints were not conceived of as a series by the artists.