Oral history interview with Lynda Benglis, 2015

Biographical Note

Lynda Benglis was born in Lake Charles, LA, and is a sculptor who pioneered a form of abstraction making use of materials in motion such as poured latex and foam. She resides in New York, Santa Fe and Ahmedabad, India. Benglis received a BFA from Newcomb College and an honorary doctorate from the Kansas City Art Institute. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and two National Endowment for the Arts grants, among other commendations

Scope and Contents

Artist Lynda Benglis describes her entry into the New York art scene in the 1960s, and meeting Rauschenberg in that scene. She reflects on Rauschenberg's place in different artistic movements, specifically Pop Art. She and Rauschenberg were both exhibited in Five from Louisiana in 1977, and Lynda reflects on how place plays in both hers and Rauschenberg's work. She describes some influences that his work, specifically the Hoarfrosts, had on hers, and reflects on the impact of time in India on their respective works. She describes how she sees her own work as being in conversation with Rauschenberg's

Subjects

• Art, American--20th century.
• Benglis, Lynda, 1941---Interviews.
• Interviews.
• Louisiana--Lake Charles.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Pop art--United States.
• Pop art--United States.
• Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008.
• Sculpture, American--20th century.
• Vanderscoff, Cameron, interviewer.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York and Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, 2015