doi:10.7916/djhr-b773Oral history interview with Calvin Tomkins, 2015Tomkins, Calvin, 1925-oral historiesmixed materialArt criticsAbstract expressionism--20th century--United StatesArt criticism--20th centuryArtistic collaborationTomkins, Calvin, 1925-Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008Rauschenberg Overseas Culture InterchangeNew Yorker (New York, N.Y. : 1925)Calvin Tomkins has served as staff writer for the New Yorker for over fifty years. He credits Rauschenberg for introducing him to contemporary art and has profiled Rauschenberg for the New Yorker, in addition to publishing Off the Wall: Robert Rauschenberg and the Art World of Our Time in 1980. Tomkins narrates the relationships and working processes through Rauschenberg's early work, leading to his critical acclaim at the 1964 Venice Biennial. Tomkins describes meeting Rauschenberg while covering a story on Jean Tinguely and forming a fast friendship. He characterizes Rauschenberg's organic workflow and profoundly sophisticated naivete as the source of his success. He discusses Rauschenberg's collaborations with John Cage and Merce Cunningham, as well as his romantic relationships with Jasper Johns, Sue Weil, and Steve Paxton. He addresses Rauschenberg's move to Captiva in 1970 and considers it the end of professional relationships which he would later seek to replicate through ROCI collaborations