The Morris Museum of Art Reinstalls Robert Rauschenberg's August Allegory (Anagrams)
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Tuesday, September 23, 2025


The Morris Museum of Art Reinstalls Robert Rauschenberg's August Allegory (Anagrams)
Robert Rauschenberg’s August Allegory (Anagrams,) and its companion pieces, hanging in the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia.



AUGUSTA, GA.— On September 21, in celebration of Augusta’s inaugural Westobou Festival, the Morris Museum of Art will unveil Robert Rauschenberg’s August Allegory (Anagrams) in its new location in the auditorium lobby on the museum’s first floor.

“Rauschenberg was undeniably one of the great figures in American art,” said Louise Keith Claussen, Director of Fine Arts at Morris Communications Co. and former director of the Morris Museum of Art, “and we are very fortunate to have some of his works in the collection of the Morris Museum, particularly fortunate to have a major work that is specific to Augusta, Georgia.”

Commissioned in 1996 and completed in 1997, Rauschenberg’s August Allegory is an extremely large – roughly five by twelve feet – work on paper, a montage, printed in vegetable dyes, created from the artist’s original photographs. Rauschenberg, working in collaboration with his partner Darryl Pottorf and assisted by the Morris’s former deputy director Rick Gruber, conducted the original shoot during a three-day visit to Augusta. Details of the work-in-progress appeared in the September 1996 issue of Vogue magazine in an article on the artist and his career.

Claussen, director of the museum when the Rauschenberg was commissioned, wrote recently that “the work reflects his response to both the details and spirit of Augusta as he saw it, and elements include several church steeples, Springfield Church, Sacred Heart Cultural Center, a 19th century textile mill, the Confederate monument, a railroad bridge, an antebellum home, Augusta bricks, the ‘haunted pillar,’ and the feet of the bronze sculpture of Arnold Palmer.”

August Allegory is housed and presented in an extremely heavy frame, fabricated from aircraft aluminum by one of Rauschenberg’s studio assistants, sculptor Lawrence Voytek. The framed work weighs about three hundred pounds and is both too large and too heavy for most of the museum’s walls. Because of its size and weight, August Allegory has rarely been on view. In its new location outside the museum’s auditorium, it will be accessible to the public whenever the auditorium is in use. A suite of the related photographic images will also be installed along the grand staircase leading to the museum’s second-floor lobby.

The unveiling ceremony will take place on September 21 at 3:00 p.m. and will feature a talk by poet Starkey Flythe about the artist’s life. The unveiling will follow the Arts in the Heart of Augusta Festival’s awards program for the Porter Fleming Literary Competition at 2:00 p.m. in the auditorium. Admission is free.

Westobou Festival - The Westobou Festival was conceived in 2005 by the Trustees of the Academy of Richmond County, as part of their work on behalf of the Porter Fleming Foundation. Designed to showcase Augusta’s wealth of artistic talent, the inaugural Festival takes place between September 18 and 27, 2008, in downtown Augusta and on the campuses of Augusta State University, and Paine College. It features performances in dance, music, theatre, and visual arts. A trademark of the Trustees of the Academy of Richmond County, Westobou Festival is produced by the Greater Augusta Arts Council.










Today's News

August 30, 2008

Modern Art. Modern Lives. Then + Now Opens Today at The Austin Museum of Art

Hood Presents First Comprehensive Display of European Art at Dartmouth

Photographs by André Kertész On View at the Portland Museum of Art

Mystic Masque: Semblance and Reality in Georges Rouault, 1871-1958 Opens Today

Out of Albion: British Art from the Allen Memorial Art Museum

The Morris Museum of Art Reinstalls Robert Rauschenberg's August Allegory (Anagrams)

The Akron Art Museum Presents Unveiled: Recent Acquisitions from the Museum's Collection

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts To Spotlight "The County Election"

Robert Sperry, Bright Abyss, At the American Museum of Ceramic Art

Spanish Photographer Isabel Muñoz Shows Her Photographs at CIFO

Collecting East Asia: The Lee Wonsik Collection Opens at The Krannert Art Museum

"Global Suburbia: Meditations on the World of 'Burbs" Opens Today

Post-War and Contemporary Editions for Sale at Christie's South Kensington

The Schirn Presents a Retrospective of Painter Peter Doig

Alice Neel - Drawing from Life Opens at Moore College of Art & Design




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 




Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)


Editor: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful