It’s one of those moments that makes you thrilled to be living on the Mid-Shore: a small regional museum in Easton hosting one of the most ambitious and fragile works by one of the giants of modern art. As part of a global celebration marking the 100th birthday of Robert Rauschenberg, the Academy Art Museum has opened Rauschenberg 100: New Connections, anchored by the rarely exhibited Chinese Summerhall, a monumental 100-foot photograph.
The exhibition grew out of a deep and largely unknown connection between Rauschenberg and Talbot County, and how Don Saff, Rauschenberg’s longtime collaborator and founder of Graphicstudio, whose work helped make Chinese Summerhall possible, and whose presence ultimately brought a significant body of Rauschenberg material to the Academy’s permanent collection.
To understand how this exhibition came together and why Chinese Summerhall matters so deeply within Rauschenberg’s career, the Spy talked to Lee Glazer, the Academy Art Museum’s Curator at Large. In our conversation, Glazer walks through the backstory of the work, the almost-impossible task of producing it, and how this singular project helped shape the artist’s later global and socially engaged vision.
This video is approximately six minutes in length. For more information about the Academy Art Museum, please go here.
Rauschenberg 100: New Connections
Dec 11, 2025 – May 3, 2026
Featured Programs
Friday, January 16th, 6 pm
Thomas Moore Performance: White Paintings and Silent Music, John Cage and Robert Rauschenberg in the 1950sFREE, Register Here
Saturday, February 21st at 6 pm
Christopher Rauschenberg Lecture: Robert Rauschenberg’s Photographic Legacy In Context
Friday, March 27th, 2026, 6 pm
Don Saff Lecture: Robert Rauschenberg in China and the Overseas Cultural Interchange
