For a period of time shortly after they were made, Rauschenberg’s Pyramid Series drawings (1974) were housed and displayed in custom Plexiglas boxes with slits in the bottom that allowed the cloth to hang through. Although this installation method protected the paper from wear and tear, it created an uncomfortable disjunction between the paper and the cloth. By the 1990s, Rauschenberg had developed a new method of display that involved fastening the paper to the wall directly, an approach that brings forward the tactility and visual subtleties of the series.
View of Robert Rauschenberg’s Untitled (Pyramid Series) in a Plexiglas frame
Part of the Rauschenberg Research Project
Related to Pyramid Series, 1974
View of Robert Rauschenberg’s Untitled (Pyramid Series) in a Plexiglas frame
Related to Pyramid Series, 1974
Part of the Rauschenberg Research Project

Robert Rauschenberg, Untitled (Pyramid Series), 1974. Pictured unit: SFMOMA 98.300.4. Photo: Bruce C. Johns