Oral history interview with Hisachika Takahashi, 2015

Biographical Note

Born in Tokyo in 1940, Hisachika Takahashi is an artist whose work deals with memory as well as with the creation of community through collaboration. He specializes in print, collage, and assemblage. Takahashi immigrated to the United States in 1969 from Italy. He met Rauschenberg shortly after his arrival and became Rauschenberg's studio assistant as well as the overseer of his New York building and studio where Takahashi resided for over three decades. Among Rauschenberg's longest employed staff, and a friend for over thirty years, Takahashi served as house manager, cook, and art restorer

Scope and Contents

Takahashi describes meeting Rauschenberg through a dinner party hosted by John de Menil and immediately finding a position as one of Rauschenberg's principle assistants. He recounts anecdotes and describes the joys and professional struggles accompanying his tenure as studio assistant for projects undertaken in New York and Captiva, and a travel companion/assistant on Rauschenberg's work trips to Israel, India, Japan and more. He also provides insight on Rauschenberg's relationships and his struggles with critics, competitors, and friends

Subjects

• Abstract expressionism--United States
• Art criticism--20th century.
• Artistic collaboration.
• Captiva Island (Fla.)
• Frohnert, Christine interviewer.
• Interviews.
• Menil, John de.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008.
• Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange.
• Sinclair, Sara interviewer.
• Takahashi, Hisachika, 1940---Interviews.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York and Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, 2014