Goat, bed among works in major Robert Rauschenberg show

LONDON – Paintings, prints, sculptures and a taxidermy goat are on display in the first posthumous retrospective devoted to pop-art pioneer Robert Rauschenberg.

The American artist, who died in 2008 aged 82, was a painter, printmaker, sculptor and choreographer. His use of everyday objects and mass-market imagery was hugely influential.

Decades before Tracey Emin’s messy bed, Rauschenberg created “Bed” out of his quilt, paint, toothpaste and fingernail polish.

The exhibition at London’s Tate Modern traces Rauschenberg’s career from 1950s abstract expressionism through pop-art screen prints to later works in textiles and performance.

Among his best-known creations is “Monogram 1955-59,” a stuffed angora goat in a car tire mounted on canvas.

The show previewed Tuesday, opens Thursday and runs to April 2. It moves to New York’s Museum of Modern Art in May.