(“Mercury Zero Summer Glut” 1987, courtesy Robert Rauschenberg Foundation)

October 22 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of postmodern artist Robert Rauschberg, who died in 2008 and this year there are wide range of exhibitions and activities to mark the centennial.

One of those is Smithsonian Books’ publication of The Ascent of Rauschenberg: Reinventing the Art of Flight, written by Carolyn Russo, who is the curator of the art collection at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

Rauschenberg is most famous for his groundbreaking “Combines,” which are painting and sculpture hybrids that often incorporated everyday objects and a connective tissue through it all was his fascination with flight. 

Throughout his body of work, Rauschenberg skillfully intertwined himself thematically with the subject of flight—spanning birds in nature, aviation, and the vastness of space,” Russo writes.

Her book includes more than 150 images of Rauschenberg’s work, from lithographs inspired by the Apollo 11 launch that NASA invited him to witness and document, to a Combine featuring a taxidermied eagle that evokes Roman mythology.

Here are couple of images from the book.

(“Wing Swing Glut, 1988” – ©Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and  Ron Amstutz)

(“Autobiography” (1968) courtesy Robert Rauschenberg Foundation)