Robert Rauschenberg’s New York Pictures from the Real World @ Museum of the City of New York

Robert Rauschenberg’s New York 

Pictures from the Real World 

Museum of the City of New York

September 13, 2025 – April 19, 2026

In celebration of the centennial of Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008), and in partnership with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, the Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) presents Robert Rauschenberg’s New York: Pictures from the Real World, a major exhibition. This dynamic show explores Rauschenberg’s innovative integration of photography and found objects into his art, reflecting his deep engagement with “the real world” and his complex relationship with New York City.

Widely regarded as one of the most influential artists of postwar New York, Rauschenberg’s irreverent approach to art-making pushed the envelope for an entire generation, reshaping the art world in New York and around the world. At the heart of his practice was a desire to incorporate the tangible world around him into his art. Gathering materials and inspiration from his surroundings, he often brought found objects and images sourced or reproduced from magazines and newspapers into his paintings and sculptures. But Robert Rauschenberg was not merely a user of found imagery; he was also a photographer with a bold creative vision—an essential aspect of his artistic practice that is the focus of the exhibition.

The show is organized into three sections—Early Photographs, In + Out City Limits, and Photography in Painting—tracing the evolution of Rauschenberg’s photographic practice and its interplay with painting, sculpture, and assemblage. His earliest images are largely intimate portraits and experiments with formal elements such as framing, light and shadow, and flattening the picture plane.

The centerpiece of the exhibition is In + Out City Limits, a three-year (1979–81) photographic survey conducted across the United States—a project Rauschenberg had originally conceived decades earlier as a student at Black Mountain College in North Carolina. His New York photographs from this project reveal his fascination with the signs and symbols of human culture, even in the most humble or discarded remnants of the city. Together, these photographs emphasize his observational rigor and his constant effort to channel the fleeting, ineffable moments of life into his work—revealing a deep sensitivity to the social landscape.

In addition, the exhibition presents a selection of works created between 1963 and 1994 that combine Rauschenberg’s New York City photographs with images taken around the world, illustrating how he recontextualized his photographic imagery through his innovative creative process.

“By incorporating photographs and everyday objects into his artworks, Robert Rauschenberg placed the realities of life at the center of his art, blurring traditionally held boundaries between the two and compelling us to look more closely at the world around us,” said Sean Corcoran, Senior Curator of Prints and Photographs at MCNY. “Our exhibition will highlight Rauschenberg’s enduring relevance, as his work continues to resonate in an increasingly image-saturated world.”

“The Museum of the City of New York is thrilled to honor Robert Rauschenberg’s centennial,” added Stephanie Hill Wilchfort, Ronay Menschel Director and President of MCNY. “This exhibition not only underscores Rauschenberg’s profound impact on the art world but also celebrates his deep connection to New York City, which shaped much of his creative journey. We are grateful to the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation for its partnership and support, which makes this exploration of his transformative work possible.”

Courtney J. Martin, Executive Director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, remarked, “We are honored to support the Museum of the City of New York’s thoughtful and timely exhibition. New York was not only a backdrop for Rauschenberg’s practice, it was also a catalyst for the ways that his objects would take shape for the entirety of his career. This exhibition reminds us how the city’s energy, texture, and unpredictability were central to his groundbreaking approach to artmaking.”

The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated companion book, co-published by MCNY and Giles Ltd, featuring contributions from Sean Corcoran and Helen Hsu, Associate Curator for Research, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.

About the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation

The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation builds on the legacy of artist Robert Rauschenberg, emphasizing his belief that artists can drive social change. Rauschenberg sought to act in the “gap” between art and life, valuing chance and collaboration across disciplines. As such, the Foundation celebrates new and even untested ways of thinking.

About Rauschenberg 100

Robert Rauschenberg’s (1925-2008) strong conviction that engagement with art can nurture people’s sensibilities as individuals, community members, and citizens was key to his ethos. The Centennial celebrations seek to allow audiences familiar with him and those encountering the artist for the first time to form fresh perspectives about his artwork. A year of global activities and exhibitions in honor of Rauschenberg’s Centennial reexamines the artist through a contemporary lens, highlighting his enduring influence on generations of artists and advocates for social progress. The Centennial’s activation of the artist’s legacy promotes cross-disciplinary explorations and creates opportunities for critical dialogue. 

For more information and continued updates on Centennial programming and news, visit rauschenberg100.org

MCNY - MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

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Above Ground: Art from the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection @ Museum of the City of New York

Above Ground 

Art from the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection

Museum of the City of New York 

November 22, 2024 – August 10, 2025

“There are people who see the graffiti experience as a vocation of adolescence, rites of passage without a sense of direction... But I saw it early on as a catalyst to develop as a painter and explore the other horizons outside of a 40-foot subway car.” – Lee Quiñones

The Museum of the City of New York presents Above Ground: Art from the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection, an extraordinary exhibition tracing the evolution of graffiti art from its roots on the streets of New York City in the early 1970s to recognition and celebration in galleries and museums worldwide. 

Above Ground showcases work drawn from the Museum's substantial graffiti art collection, complemented by loans from private collections. It highlights the transition many graffiti artists made from tagging subway cars to creating paintings on canvas, marking a pivotal moment in the movement's evolution as it entered broader public awareness and significantly influenced global culture. 

The exhibition highlights many never seen donated 30 years ago by the visionary artist and collector Martin Wong – including works in aerosol, ink, and other mediums by key figures such as Keith Haring, Futura 2000, Fab 5 Freddy, Rammellzee, Lee Quiñones, Haze, Crash, Lady Pink, and Tracy 168.

“Above Ground celebrates the 30th anniversary of Martin Wong’s donation to the museum and the 10th anniversary of MCNY’s initial City as Canvas exhibition,” says Sean Corcoran, Senior Curator of Prints and Photographs at the Museum of the City of New York. “This show offers a renewed and expanded look at graffiti’s journey from NYC streets to the most prestigious galleries around the world.”

The exhibition is organized into several sections, highlighting the origins of graffiti and its broader cultural impact, particularly the Post-Graffiti movement. The exhibition touches on the East Village scene, and the impact of early indie galleries such as Fun Gallery, Fashion Moda, and others that showcased graffiti on canvas. It considers the art form’s initial international success and underscores the legacy of Martin Wong and his commitment to preserving the art form.

Select exhibition highlights include:

• Martha Cooper’s photographs of work by Keith Haring and more;

• Lee Quiñones’ monumental painting, A Life Takes a Life (1983);

• TRACY 168 from ESSY Studio sketch pad (1980);

• Rammellzee’s Atomic Note (1986) and Atomic Futurism (1987);

• A-One’s spray paint on canvas work, Beauty of a Beast (In Memory of Bear 167) (1987);

• Photographs from Henry Chalfant’s Subway Art series, including Skeme and Daze and Kel Crash;

• DAZE spray paint on canvas pieces, Phobia (1983) and French Dream. Life Below Aerosol (1984);

• Several pieces from KAWS’ collection, including DONDI’s Bishop of Battle (1985); and Martin Wong’s Sharp and Dottie (1984);

• A documentary by Charlie Ahearn on Martin Wong’s collection, offers a deeper understanding of the art and its historical context.

Stephanie Hill Wilchfort, Ronay Menschel Director and President of the Museum of the City of New York, adds, “Born in New York City, graffiti is now a global phenomenon This exhibition not only celebrates the artistic contributions of graffiti artists, reflects the dynamic and everevolving culture of our city, and explores how New York’s art and popular culture influences the world.”

MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

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New York Now: Home @ MCNY - Museum of the City of New York

New York Now: Home

Museum of the City of New York

March 10 - August, 2023

Gail Albert Halaban

“Valentines, East 10th Street, Greenwich Village, New York,” 

from the series “Out My Window” 2022 

Courtesy of Gail Albert Halaban

There’s no place like home…home is where the heart is…home, sweet home…feeling at home. There are many evocative and iconic expressions about the concept, but what does home in New York City look like today? New York Now: Home – the inaugural edition of the Museum of the City of New York’s new contemporary photography triennial – considers the literal places we dwell and the homes we choose to make, exploring the many facets of contemporary homemaking in and around New York’s five boroughs. Inspired by the Museum’s landmark presentation of the same name in 2000, New York Now will occur every three years with different themes. Co-curated by Thea Quiray Tagle, Ph.D., associate curator of the Brown Arts Institute and the Bell Gallery at Brown University, and Sean Corcoran, MCNY's senior curator of prints and photographs, New York Now kicks off the Museum’s centennial year programming.

"New York City is the world center of photography and has been a source of inspiration for generations of image-makers going back to the advent of the medium itself,” says Sarah M. Henry, Ph.D., Robert A. and Elizabeth Rohn Jeffe Chief Curator and Interim Director, Museum of the City of New York. “As New York’s storyteller for a century, Museum of the City of New York has collected and exhibited the best of this work since its founding in 1923. We are excited to launch our centennial celebrations with New York Now, our new series of photography exhibitions that will engage themes and issues of the contemporary city.”

“Lens-based work has an immediacy, an intimacy, and the power to build a connection between the artist, the subject, and the viewer that is unlike other media,” says Sean Corcoran. “With this, and future installations of New York Now, we have the opportunity to reflect and promote a range of perspectives and to highlight both established and emerging talents focusing on themes of relevance to New York, New Yorkers, and the experience of urban life.”

Xyza Cruz Bacani

“Liberty” from the series "We Are Like Air: NYC" 2022

Courtesy of Xyza Cruz Bacani

Laila Annmarie Stevens

“Jada and Aaliyah, Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY,” 

from the series “A House Is Not Home” 2022 

Courtesy of Laila Annmarie Stevens

New York Now: Home is organized in four sections:

● Home Crosses Borders explores the experiences of working, finding community, and making home for immigrant and refugee communities in New York City – with works by image-makers including Cynthia Santos-Briones, Alan Chin, and Diana Guerra.

● Home Is Chosen highlights queer kinship and the power of creating family formations bound together by choice rather than blood. Featuring images by artists including Richard Renaldi, Laila Annmarie Stevens, and Joana Toro.

● Home Is a Haven presents diverse class and race expressions of home, family, and community, with images that challenge the ideal of home as a site of safety and protection from the outside world. Featuring works by image-makers such as Ariana Faye Allensworth and the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project (AEMP); Sara Bennett; and Chantal Heijnen & Lou van Melik.

● Home Is The Body shares images by artists including Nona Faustine, Cheryl Mukherji, and Dean Majd, who use their bodies –and portraiture– to grapple with intergenerational trauma and social histories of place.

Paul Moakley

“Family and Friends Arrive at My Sister’s House For a Pre-prom Party, 

Tottenville, Staten Island.” June 2, 2019 

Courtesy of Paul Moakley

Cheryl Mukherji

Playing Eve, from the series 

“Wanted Beautiful Home Loving Girl” 2021 

Courtesy of Cheryl Mukherji

“One of the things that makes New York Now: Home’s images distinctive is, in large part, the photographers’ gaze,” says Thea Quiray Tagle, Ph.D., co-curator of the exhibition. “The image-makers featured in the exhibition are engaged with their subjects, often working collaboratively with them to share their powerful stories. The results are unique and often underexposed perspectives of making home in New York that we may not see via mainstream media or in contemporary art representations.”

Featuring 33 image-makers whose work ranges from social documentary to conceptual, the exhibition celebrates the diversity of what home, family, kinship, and community are – and can be – in New York, now.

The artists featured in New York Now: Home are:

● Ariana Faye Allensworth

● Xyza Cruz Bacani

● Roy Baizan

● Laylah Amatullah Barrayn

● Sara Bennett

● Amarise Carreras

● Cinthya Santos-Briones

● Alan Chin

● Sally Davies

● Maureen Drennan

● Nona Faustine

● Naima Green

● Diana Guerra

● Gail Albert Halaban

● Chantal Heijnen & Lou van Melik

● Ramona Jingru Wang

● Anders Jones

● Jamel Shabazz

● Neil Kramer

● Dean Majd

● Alan Michelson

● Paul Moakley

● Cheryl Mukherji

● Ian Reid

● Richard Renaldi

● Irina Rozovsky

● Geralyn Shukwit

● Laila Annmarie Stevens

● The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project

● Joana Toro

● Linda Troeller

● Nolan Trowe

● Elias Williams

New York Now: Home is the result of the intense curatorial labor of sifting through submissions from more than 1,000 artists who answered a public call for images, as well as nominations for consideration made by the curators, the advisory committee—Michael Famighetti (Editor of Aperture magazine); Nicole Fleetwood (curator, writer, 2021 MacArthur Fellow, and Weldon Johnson Professor in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University); Kris Graves (artist and founder of Monolith Editions); Kristen Lubben (curator, writer, and Executive Director of Magnum Foundation); and Brian Wallis (director of the Center for Photography at Woodstock and former chief curator of the International Center for Photography)— as well as institutional partners such as Aperture, The Bronx Documentary Center, CityLore, Penumbra, Photoville, and Queens Museum of Art.

An eponymous catalogue was published by KPG | Monolith Editions.

MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

1220 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY

www.mcny.org