Scatole e Feticci Personali (1952–53)

Rauschenberg made the Scatole e Feticci Personali (“personal boxes and fetishes”) from materials collected during his travels with the artist Cy Twombly in Italy, Morocco, and Spain in 1952–53. In a statement Rauschenberg wrote at the time of their making, he described the works as “constructions” fashioned from objects chosen for the “richness of their past” or for their “vivid abstract reality.” Some of the constructions hang, while others are small boxes and assemblages that originally invited viewers to “add bits of your own choice, to rearrange the contents, or to leave them in their emptiness.” Works in the series were first exhibited at Galleria dell’Obelisco in Rome (March 3–10, 1953) and then in Florence at Galleria d’Arte Contemporanea (opened March 14, 1953). One Florentine reviewer advised the artist to throw the works into the Arno; Rauschenberg later claimed to have done so, recalling, “I was leaving in a few days . . . and I had packing problems. I thought, what a wonderful idea.”