JESS TODD STUDIO

 ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG ON CAPTIVA 

written by Jessica Todd in the capacity of Residency Manager at the Rauschenberg Residency, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, completed March 2020

In the fall of 1960, Robert Rauschenberg retreated from his New York City studio to Treasure Island, a small fishing village near St. Petersburg, Florida, to complete a series of transfer drawings illustrating the 34 cantos of Dante’s Inferno (1958-1960) (“Chronology”; “Dante Drawing”). It was there that he discovered the creative benefit of working in a warm, coastal environment, similar to that of his hometown of Port Arthur, Texas, and subsequently decided to leave New York City, where he had lived for over 20 years. Rauschenberg embarked on a trip visiting islands off the east coast of the United States, from the Atlantic coast in Maryland to the Gulf coast in Mississippi, in search of a new home. In 1970, he wrote, “Every time I reached Captiva I felt a magic that was unexplainable in its power… I have thanked my instinct every day I am here and when I can’t be. Captiva is the foundation of my life and my work; it is my source and reserve of my energies” (Rauschenberg to Bishop).

A HISTORY OF THE ISLANDS

Captiva and adjacent Sanibel are barrier islands off the west coast of mainland Florida dividing Pine Island Sound and the Gulf of Mexico. Florida itself is a flat plateau that slopes gradually for hundreds of miles before dropping off into deeper water. Much of the state has been alternately dry land and shallow sea, depending on sea level rise and fall – Florida has been both smaller and larger in dry land mass than it is today. Most of Florida’s barrier islands formed in the past few thousand years and are thus geologically young. Barrier islands develop when sand accumulates, creates beach ridges, and widens, eventually supporting maritime forests. These low-lying islands are vulnerable to flooding and migration landward due to storm surge and currents shifting their sandy foundations (Fritz 7-9; Hine 3, 19).

The broad, submerged shelf off the west coast of Florida is an ideal habitat for mollusks, crustaceans and a wide variety of fish that in turn attract large numbers of birds. Land mammals thrive in the temperate climate and teeming plant life of the region (Fritz 7-9). This abundance of life led to the first human inhabitants at least 6,000 years ago, who established fishing as their way of life. Around 500 A.D., the society of the Calusa arose from those inhabitants, also relying on fishing as well as harvesting mollusks and crustaceans, hunting turtles and land mammals, and gathering edible plants. The Calusa crafted sophisticated fishing equipment, canoes, and tools for everyday life, along with ceremonial and decorative art objects. They lived in wood and palm-thatch houses constructed on mounds composed of seashells and soil called middens, many of which still exist today throughout southwest Florida. Their society was structured under the leadership of a paramount leader, a military captain, and a spiritual leader, and they had a noble class, including warriors; a number of spiritual specialists and healers; and a class of commoners (MacMahon and Marquardt 2-4, 75-78).

By 1511, the Indigenous people of south Florida knew of Christopher Columbus’s 1492 landing in the Caribbean and the subsequent arrival of Spanish merchants and slave traders in the region. They had also learned of the Spanish invasion of Cuba that devastated the Indigenous population from refugees who settled in south Florida. Therefore, when Juan Ponce de León first landed in southwest Florida in 1513, the Calusa attacked and successfully sent his three vessels on their way south. In 1517, Francisco Hernández de Córdoba’s ships were attacked during a brief stop along the coast. Ponce de León returned in 1521, intending to build a settlement, but the Calusa again retaliated, this time fatally wounding Ponce de León (MacMahon and Marquardt 4-5, 115-116).

Various Spanish expeditions continued to arrive throughout Florida, though there is no known return to southwest Florida until the late 1600s. The Calusa continued to live isolated from the Europeans in their coastal towns until war broke out in 1702 between England and the allied powers of France and Spain. The war drove the Spanish farther south, where they quickly decimated the underprepared Calusa with European-introduced diseases, militarism, slavery, and displacement. By 1711, most of the Calusa people were gone from southwest Florida, and those who were enslaved in the Florida Keys or who fled to Cuba died soon after from typhus or smallpox. By the end of the 18th century, the Calusa vanished completely from historical record (MacMahon and Marquardt 116-120).

The origin of Sanibel’s name is attributed to Juan Ponce de León, who noted the eastern tip of the island because it pointed to the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River, which led to Indigenous provinces and capital cities in the interior. He purportedly named the tip of the island after Isabella, daughter of King John II. Over time the name appears on maps as Isabella, Y Bel, San Y Bel, Sanabal, and on. The tip of the island today is called Point Ybel, and Sanibel became the name of the entire island. Though there are numerous legends about the origin of Captiva’s name, the most likely comes from Passeo Cautivo (pass of the captive), written on early maps after the first visit of Ponce de León, which referred to Captiva Pass (between North Captiva and Cayo Costa) and eventually to the island itself. Ponce de León likely intended to and did use the passageway into the Gulf to transport captured Indigenous people to the slave markets of the Antilles, though he was stopped by the aforementioned Calusa attack in 1521. By 1708 there was an established slave route transporting both Indigenous and African captives around Point Ybel up the Caloosahatchee River, across Lake Okeechobee in central Florida, and up to the English colonies in northern Florida (Fritz 20-21, 27).

Indigenous people (likely Seminoles), Europeans, and Cubans lived on Sanibel and Captiva intermittently throughout the early 1800s – sometimes peacefully, sometimes in conflict. In 1822, unbeknownst to many of them, Florida became a United States territory, and in 1823, the Monroe Doctrine declared that the United States could no longer be colonized by any European power. In 1839, the Indigenous people were forced from the islands onto inland reservations, despite their last efforts to claim the land. Throughout the rest of the century, various agricultural operations, fisheries, and settlers resided on Sanibel and Captiva. Toward the end of the 19th century, docks were built on the islands to improve transportation of goods and people (Fritz 31-40, 61-69, 89). Two of Captiva’s early homesteaders, William H. Binder, who arrived in 1896, and William Langley “Tobe” Bryant, who arrived in 1899, are believed to be the first to claim ownership of the land where the Rauschenberg property is now located (“William H. Binder”; Tuttle 27; Holly 54; Captiva Civic Association 390-391).

The rich soil continued to attract farmers to Sanibel and Captiva throughout the early 1900s until storm surge from a massive hurricane in 1926 polluted the soil with saltwater. The devastated agricultural industry soon gave way to tourism as residents built bed and breakfasts and the islands became known for their pristine beaches and abundant shelling. Tourism continued to grow into the primary industry on the islands, although Captiva was still quite remote when Rauschenberg first visited in the early 1960s. At that time, people and supplies arrived by ferry or plane only, keeping tourist numbers low and construction slow. Then, in 1963 – after much resistance from the islanders – the first Sanibel causeway was built, allowing vehicle traffic for the first time and increasing the pace of development and tourism (Fritz 223-236; Hill et al. 7, 126-127).

BEACH HOUSE

Rauschenberg’s first property on Captiva was the Beach House, which he purchased alongside the undeveloped property now called the “Jungle” on July 26, 1968, from three couples: Arthur and Reba Pickard, Charles and Helen Pickard, and Hubert and Margaret Stockard (Deed Pickard and Stockard). The home was built in 1963 and had likely served as an investment property or vacation home (“Property Data”).

In the fall of 1970, Rauschenberg relocated his permanent residence and studio from New York City to Captiva (“Chronology”). He enclosed the ground level of the Beach House, which was originally open air, and added sliding doors that opened directly onto the sandy beach of the Gulf of Mexico. The space served as his first studio on Captiva, and his first worktable there was a door propped up on four sawhorses (Petersen “Captiva”; Captiva Memories). By December, he began to work on his Cardboard series in the new space; Rauschenberg had always been one to work with the materials he could find, and there were plenty of shipments arriving in boxes from the move (“Chronology”; Saff 178). The assembled wall sculptures were made from cardboard boxes that he manipulated by bending, cutting, and stapling; the boxes themselves displayed their origin via their labeling, and their individual histories via the various blemishes they bore (“Cardboard”). Long-time Captiva resident and friend of Rauschenberg, Sarita Van Vleck, recalls Rauschenberg’s “art shows” in the Beach House studio, where he displayed “painted shipping boxes with lights,” and where she first made his acquaintance (S. Van Vleck).

Upstairs, the living space had white walls and minimal white furnishings, with a television that was always on, usually turned to a soap opera. The house was often full of friends, guests, and staff (whom he also considered friends), as Rauschenberg loved to be around people (Namuth; White 219-220). He enjoyed cooking and would improvise recipes, grabbing spices from the cabinet above the stove in the kitchen and throwing in whatever he thought would work. He particularly enjoyed cooking spicy foods, including hot sauces he would make and mail to his friends at Christmastime (White 130-133). Outside, there was a chain link fenced-in yard for his numerous mixed breed and husky dogs. The Beach House was Rauschenberg’s residence until 1990, when he moved, with some reluctance, into his new home built on the adjacent beachfront lot that he coined the Gulf House (Hall, 2019; Saff 73; “Chronology”).

JUNGLE ROAD

The wooded area now referred to as the Jungle was once bordered to the north by a street called Sunset Drive, and divided down the middle by a street called Wolff Way.  The land was zoned for 18 residential lots on the north side of Wolff Way and 35 on the south side (Captiva map). Rauschenberg purchased the lots on July 26, 1968, along with the Beach House, thus saving it from potential development (Deed Pickard and Stockard). Over the years, he allowed Wolff Way to overgrow with vegetation, and later decided to create a meandering path more harmonious with the scenery. The story goes that Rauschenberg owned a Volkswagen Beetle and a Volkswagen Van, one called “This” and the other “That” (Felsen 75). He took the Beetle and drove it through the Jungle, having his staff mark off where he was able to traverse. The path was then cleared and dubbed “Jungle Road” (Hall, 2015 23).

RAUSCHENBERG & SOUTH SEAS RESORT

Throughout the 1970s, the land north of Rauschenberg’s remote Captiva retreat was being incrementally developed by South Seas Plantation (now South Seas Resort). By the late 1970s, expansion of the resort was booming, and his displeasure with its growth was no secret. In a letter printed in a local paper in 1977, Rauschenberg wrote, “I have watched the mangrove along the South Seas Road destroyed and 24-hour landfill trucks speeding, tearing up the roads, all to overpopulate and strain an already-delicate balance, and, I think, for no noble reason” (Holly 54-55).

After his initial purchase of the Beach House in 1968, Rauschenberg feared the quiet Captiva he loved so much would succumb to the continued development of South Seas. With that in mind, he approached adjacent homeowners asking to buy their properties, promising never to develop the land. This greatly appealed to long-time homeowners Joseph Van Vleck and Waldo Howland, who trustfully sold him their properties, and neighbors Laura Weeks and Maybelle Stamper, who were additionally granted life estates so that they could continue to reside in their homes free of cost (Captiva Memories; Warranty Deed; Trust Agreement). Evidently, he aimed to create a barrier of land spanning from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pine Island Sound that would prevent South Seas from continuing its expansion southward on Captiva. He was successful, and the Gulf to Sound property line shared by South Seas Resort and the Rauschenberg property today stands testament (Captiva Memories).

HOME OF MAYBELLE STAMPER

On the land to the west of the Print House once stood the home of Maybelle Stamper, an artist and long-time Captiva resident. Beginning in 1985, through a trust agreement called a “life tenancy agreement,” Stamper’s ownership of her property was transferred to Rauschenberg in exchange for a monthly payment throughout her lifetime. Rauschenberg additionally paid her bills and medical expenses and his staff, particularly Pam Schmidt, cared for her until her death in 1995 (Captiva Sheriff’s map; A. Williams; Trust Agreement).

After graduating from the New Hampshire State Normal School in Keene in 1927, Stamper went on to study art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Art Student’s League in New York. Her work was shown in numerous galleries in New York and Cincinnati, and she taught at the Cincinnati Art Academy (Goodman 13). In 1943, after a bitter divorce, she retreated to Captiva for three years, returning permanently in 1947 and cutting ties with her family (Nickerson 10). She was known for being extremely private, though enjoyed teaching art to the young children on the island (Goodman 13). She held brief friendships with neighbors Clara Stran, the first resident of the Curator House, and Sarita Van Vleck, whose family built the Bay House (S. Van Vleck; Nickerson 11). Rauschenberg greatly respected her and asked his staff to do the same (Voytek 128).

Stamper was best known for her “Songs,” as she called her signature work that often took years to complete. The pieces consisted of multi-layered lithographs with hand coloring, often incorporating diary-like inscriptions and poems under swirling abstracted figures and natural forms. She also ceaselessly produced drawings, paintings, and found object sculptures; kept detailed journals of her ponderings and meticulously scheduled everyday life; and read voraciously (Nickerson 12).

As the years went on, Stamper became increasingly reclusive. Friends and neighbors supported her by purchasing her artwork and the few friends she allowed in her life assisted her and brought her food. She was intensely devoted to the care of a menagerie of feral cats, to whom she fed a varied menu of meat entrees. Stamper herself foraged for food around her home (Nickerson 17). She passed away at her home in 1995 at the age of 86, bequeathing her entire body of work – over 800 pieces – to her friend, Marie Kalman. Kalman arranged a retrospective at the Captiva Civic Association in 1998, and later exhibitions in Fort Myers, at the Cincinnati Art Museum, the New Hampshire State Normal School in Keene, and the McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina (Nickerson 20; Goodman 13; J. Williams 38). Stamper’s home was demolished due to its dilapidated state in 2008 (Property Appraisers; Hall, 2019).

PRINT HOUSE

Rauschenberg purchased the Print House, along with the Curator House, on October 1, 1971, from a widow named Anna Lowe (Deed Lowe). The house was built in 1958 and its original use is unknown (“Property Data”).

In 1970, Rauschenberg invited well-known printer Robert Petersen to live and work with him on Captiva. At the time, Petersen was an assistant printer at Gemini G.E.L. in Los Angeles and had printed editions for Rauschenberg, most notably his Stoned Moon series (1969-70), during which they formed a close friendship. In 1971, the pair founded Untitled Press, Inc., an experimental print shop located in the Print House, which they called the Print Shop. Maybelle Stamper contributed proofing stones and an old Fuchs and Lang proofing press that the team restored, and Gemini G.E.L. contributed lithography stones. The name “untitled” was recommended by gallerists Ileana and Michael Sonnabend, who suggested it for its common association with contemporary art in Europe (Petersen “Biography”; “Chronology”).

Rauschenberg and Petersen printed their own work as well as work for visiting artists, such as Hisachika Takahashi (also Rauschenberg’s assistant), Cy Twombly (April 1971), Brice Marden (February-April 1972), David Bradshaw (January 1972-March 1973), Robert Whitman (Fall 1973), and Susan Weil (February 1974).  Prints were distributed by Castelli Graphics in New York City. Petersen developed his own style of sketch-inspired collage work in the early 1970s, and in 1976, created his first monthly journal that included sketches of his surroundings and future work, postcards, photographs, and ephemera. He lived and worked on Captiva until 1980. Over time, fewer guest artists used the Print Shop, and it became a studio for Rauschenberg (Petersen “Biography”; “Chronology”).

CURATOR HOUSE

The Curator House, purchased from Anna Lowe in 1971 alongside the Print House, was built in the late 1930s in the Cracker/Dog-Trot style (Tuttle 7). Cracker houses became popular in the early 1900s when Florida and Georgia settlers were drawn to the area for cheap and plentiful land where the brush provided an abundant supply of cedar and cypress. The simple wood frame homes were designed to help escape the Florida heat: they are raised on pilings to allow air to circulate underneath, have a pitched metal roof to reflect the sun, and often include a large covered porch for escaping the heat. The Dog-Trot form of the Cracker style consists of two living areas separated by a central outdoor hall or breezeway, and lacks a front door. On the Curator House, the breezeway was later enclosed to accommodate air conditioning, which is why the central bedroom doors appear to be exterior doors and the walls have outdoor siding (“Cracker Farmhouses”).

The Curator House first belonged to a well-known Captiva resident named Clara Stran. Stran and her husband – a fishing guide known as Captain Stran – had been living in a small boathouse on the bay that burned down. They moved to an old shack nearer to the Gulf, but the owners of the property kicked them out to rebuild a larger home for themselves. According to a long-time Captiva resident, a group of local men, feeling sympathy for their well-liked neighbor, Clara Stran (now evidently separated from her husband), gathered to build her a new home – the Curator House (“Early Tarpon Fishing”; Jacobs; Captiva Civic Association 113, 235). For 20 years, through the 1950s and 60s, she ran a gift shop called Stran’s Shell Shop out of the house, using the central open breezeway to sustain live shells (“Clara Stran”; Tuttle 66; S. Van Vleck). Stran was known as a kind soul who cared for her neighbors when they were ill and assisted her friend and neighbor Maybelle Stamper in caring for her many cats (Captiva Civic Association 235; S. Van Vleck). When she passed away in 1970, she had no known survivors (“Clara Stran”). She willed her house to a policeman’s mother who had cared for her when she was ill, presumably Anna Lowe (Captiva Civic Association 237).

The name Curator House was coined by Rauschenberg because the prints completed in the Print Shop would be moved there to be stored and later reviewed for final selection, or curated. The house was also used as a guesthouse during printing projects for staff and visiting printmakers and assistants (Hall, 2019).

LAIKA LANE STUDIO

After working out of the Beach House studio for over two years, Rauschenberg had the opportunity to purchase the adjacent home on Laika Lane to convert into a new studio space. He purchased the home, built in 1955, on January 15, 1973, from Berta Sabiel, widow of George Walter Sabiel (Settlement Sabiel). The Sabiels were winter residents of Captiva, spending summers in Mount Kisco, New York (“George W. Sabiel”). Berta served as one of the first self-appointed winter librarians at Captiva Memorial Library in 1961 (“Captiva Memorial Library”). George was an architect, credited with designing the Captiva Civic Association building in 1960 (Captiva Civic Association 290-91).

Shortly after purchase, the home was remodeled and served as Rauschenberg’s studio and administrative offices (Invoice Ross Construction). Upstairs, the administrative offices were located in what is now the small sitting room off of the large studio area and into the adjoining apartment, where there is a small kitchen and bathroom. In the studio area, Rauschenberg had large working tables that took up most of the center of the space with finished or in-progress work, paints, and other materials against the walls. He would often roller skate around the tables while working. The ground level - originally open-air – served as a fabrication area with wood- and metal-working equipment used to create sculptures and frames for two-dimensional work. A pile of found materials and “junk” for sculptures was located behind the studio (Hall, 2019; “Office”; Felsen 59-60).

Notable works completed or begun in Rauschenberg’s Laika Lane studio include: the Hoarfrost series (1974-76), for which Rauschenberg used a solvent to transfer images onto unstretched fabric; the Jammer series (1975-76), composed of colorful sewn silk and found objects; the Scale series (1977-81), large-scale sculptural works that incorporate solvent transfer onto wood structures comprised of fabric, mirrored Plexiglas, and found objects; ¼ Mile or 2 Furlong Piece (1981-98), intended to be the longest artwork in the world; the Glut series (1986-89/1991-94), found object sculptures reflecting the damaging effect of an oil glut on the Texas economy; Art Car-BMW (1986), a commission by BMW for which the studio had to be greatly altered to get the car inside; the Borealis series (1988-92), created with a tarnishing agent silkscreened on sheet metal; the Urban Bourbon series (1988-96), silkscreened images combined with expressionistic brushstrokes in bright colors; the Waterworks series (1992-95), Rauschenberg’s first use of biodegradable and soy-based dyes; and the Bicycloid series (1992-94), a sculptural series of vintage bicycles outlined with colored neon tubing. In March 1993, Rauschenberg’s new studio on the other side of the property was completed, which would be his last studio on Captiva (“Chronology”; Voytek 197-198).

WEEKS HOUSE

Rauschenberg purchased the Weeks property on August 8, 1977, from Laura Foren Weeks, widow of Allen Weeks. The four-acre property extended from Captiva Drive, along what is now the South Seas Resort property line, to Pine Island Sound, and included the Weeks House, Waldo Cottage, and several out buildings (Settlement Weeks).

The Weeks had purchased the property from Clarence Chadwick in 1934 (Sheppard to Stewart). Chadwick is connected to one of Captiva’s earliest homesteaders, William Langley “Tobe” Bryant, who arrived on Captiva in 1899. Bryant grew sugar cane, avocados, vegetables, and citrus on 160 acres of land that likely included some or all of the Weeks property (Holly 54; Captiva Civic Association 390-91). In 1921, a massive hurricane destroyed Bryant’s agricultural operations, and caused many homesteaders to leave the island. Chadwick then visited Captiva in 1923 and, with the encouragement of his wife, purchased Bryant’s property. He and Bryant worked to rebuild and eventually established a key lime plantation growing his own strain of salt-resistant fruit known as the Chad lime, becoming the largest producer of key limes in the world (Holly 54-55). Chadwick owned the land on which a man recorded only as Mr. Sanchez lived and grew grapefruit. Sanchez was likely the original resident of the home we now call the Weeks House, which was probably built in the late 1920s (Captiva Civic Association 32, 36).

Allen and Laura “Larry” Weeks spent nine years in Massachusetts before coming to Captiva. Every year, they would spend four months on their sailboat, and one year a trip to Jamaica convinced them to move to a tropical climate. They stayed at Casa Ybel on Sanibel for three months, and immediately purchased the property on Captiva. The following fall, in 1932, they left their home in Massachusetts to become year-round Captiva residents. Allen, who graduated from M.I.T. with an engineering degree, had the house renovated to a more open plan, reflected in the layout today. A gas stove, gas refrigerator, and gas heater were added, along with a rain cistern (the only water supply) and pumps to send water to the commode and laundry house. The Weeks kept up the citrus grove for about five years, until it was destroyed in a hurricane. The couple was known for riding out hurricanes in their house, mixing up drinks on the hour to pass the time and calm their nerves (Captiva Civic Association 177-79). Upon purchasing the Weeks’ property in 1977, Rauschenberg preserved a life estate for Larry Weeks, then widowed, wherein she could continue to reside in the home paying only taxes and insurance during her lifetime (Warranty Deed). She passed away in November 1980 (“Laura F Weeks”).

Rauschenberg did minor renovations to the Weeks House in 1982, and over the years the out buildings on the property were removed and the dock out to Pine Island Sound washed out (Invoice McQuade; “Weeks”). The house was used for guests, though fell into bad shape over the years (Hall, 2019). In 1989, Rauschenberg wrote a letter to the Department of Environmental Regulation in opposition to trimming mangroves for the Bayside Villa condominiums in the lot adjacent to the Weeks property. He wrote, “If I were an owner… I would much rather have a view of healthy red, black and white mangroves, teeming with wildlife which are at home there, than the sight of dead trees that will be barren of any living creatures” (Rauschenberg to Dentzau).

WALDO COTTAGE

Rauschenberg purchased the Howland property – the strip of land between the Weeks and Van Vleck properties – from Waldo and Katherine Howland. The land was purchased in two portions: First, on July 15, 1981, the western portion, and then on March 31, 1992, the eastern portion adjacent to Pine Island Sound where Waldo Cottage now sits (Deed Howland; Contract). The Howlands had purchased the property from the Weeks, who they knew through their mutual involvement in boating (S. Van Vleck).

Waldo Cottage was once a worker’s cabin, as evidenced by the hooks on the walls from which temporary beds could be hung. The Weeks and Howland properties were a citrus grove owned by early homesteader Clarence Chadwick and operated by a man named Mr. Sanchez. The grove produced grapefruit, oranges, lemons, and key limes until it was destroyed in a hurricane in the late 1930s. The cottage would have served as a retreat from the sun and heat during the workday (Sheppard to Stewart; Captiva Civic Association 32, 178).

Waldo Howland was an esteemed yacht builder and preservationist of wooden boats. He was the moving force behind The Concordia Company in Massachusetts, the maker of the widely respected racing and cruising yachts known as Concordia Yawls. He authored two books: A Life in Boats: The Years Before the War and A Life in Boats: The Concordia Years (“Waldo Howland”). Katherine was active in the Captiva Civic Association and volunteered at the Captiva Library and the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation (“Katie Howland”).

Waldo had a large garage – a simple, raised wood structure – on his property where he sketched and worked. He planted citrus trees, some of which still stand on the lot. After Hurricane Charley in 2004, Rauschenberg had the garage removed due to its dilapidated state. He put Waldo Cottage in its place, moving it from its original location between the Weeks House and the South Seas Resort property line so that it would no longer be in the shadows of the Bayside Villa condominiums (Hall, 2019; Captiva aerial, 2005).

FISH HOUSE

Rauschenberg purchased the Fish House, along with the Bay House and 3.5 acres of land, on December 29, 1978, from Joseph Van Vleck, Jr., paid in both cash and in commissioned artwork (Settlement Van Vleck; Captiva Memories). The Van Vlecks purchased the property from Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling in 1957, who purchased a parcel of land from Clarence Chadwick in the late 1930s, which was first homesteaded by one of Captiva’s first homesteaders, William Binder, who arrived in the late 1800s (Lendt 284; Captiva Memories; Captiva Civic Association 390-391).

Darling was a well-known political cartoonist who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1924 and 1942. His cartoons frequently critiqued US politics, but as time went on, he created more and more work concerning the conservation of the natural world. In the 1930s, he became involved in conservation movements, and in 1934, he was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a committee to study migrating wildfowl. Later that year, he was appointed Chief of the Biological Survey and implemented the Duck Stamp Act and designed the first Duck Stamp. In 1936, he organized and was elected president of the National Wildlife Federation (“Who Was Ding Darling”). Darling is credited as the visionary behind a system of wildlife refuges, where migration routes are taken into account and, subsequently, the whole becomes greater than its parts (America’s Darling). His quick action to save a portion of land on Sanibel led to its preservation as a national refuge, which was renamed the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge in his honor in 1965, three years after his death (“Who Was Ding Darling”).

Darling, who spent most of his life in Iowa, had ongoing respiratory ailments that eventually led him to seek out warmer weather in Florida. In the winter of 1936, he made his first trip to Captiva and stayed at ‘Tween Waters Inn. Darling instantly fell in love with the undeveloped, pristine island and later purchased the land from Clarence Chadwick. He built himself a small home/studio there with a garage that was converted into a guesthouse (Lendt 193-4; Captiva Memories; S. Van Vleck).

In May of 1942, Darling built his beloved Fish House over the water of the Pine Island Sound. At the time, the dock had a counterbalanced drawbridge he could pull up behind himself to work uninterrupted (Lendt 213). Inside, the house was inspired by fishing cottages with built-in storage hidden within all of the walls, including a writing desk that folds down from a closet. Darling designed the fireplace – a focal point in the living space – that includes a seahorse sculpture he created and had replicated in iron. He had hoped to live there full time but his wife, Penny, preferred to spend her time at ‘Tween Waters where she had the comforts of an inn and could be close to her friends, so he typically stayed there alone (America’s Darling).

When Darling was forced to sell his Captiva property in the mid-1950s due to its expense, he wrote, “I am sick to my stomach every time I remember that I no longer possess it… when I found someone who wanted the Fish House more than I did I let it go” (Lendt 285). That someone was Joseph Van Vleck Jr.’s second wife, Virginia, who convinced her husband Joseph to buy the property. The couple and their children had stayed in Darling’s guesthouse over the years and Darling knew Virginia’s father. He trusted that they would conserve the property and Fish House – which the Van Vlecks called “Wingdom” – just as he had desired to do (S. Van Vleck; J. Van Vleck).

When Joseph Van Vleck decided to sell the property in the late 1970s, he immediately thought of the artist who was buying up adjacent properties with the promise never to develop or sell (Captiva Memories). Van Vleck passed on Darling’s mandate of preservation to Rauschenberg: As a condition of his purchase of the property, Rauschenberg signed an agreement that he would not renovate or make changes without gaining consent of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF), the Nature Conservancy, and the National Audubon Society (Real Estate Restriction Agreement). For this reason, his attorney felt it was a poor investment, but Rauschenberg was passionate about the house and its history and pursued the purchase anyway (Sheppard to Rauschenberg).

Rauschenberg, like Darling, found the Fish House to be a sanctuary; he, too, would raise the drawbridge to be secluded (Hall, 2015 26). Few guests were permitted to stay at the Fish House, but David Byrne of the Talking Heads stayed several times and wrote music (Saff 167). Rauschenberg added a weathervane to the roof, a gift to him from Edwin Schlossberg, Caroline Kennedy’s husband (Schlossberg). On July 23, 2014, the Fish House was designated as a historic resource by the Lee County Historic Preservation Board (Resolution).

BAY HOUSE

Rauschenberg purchased the Bay House, along with the Fish House and 3.5 acres of land, on December 29, 1978, from Joseph Van Vleck, Jr. (Settlement Van Vleck). The property was purchased in cash and in commissioned artwork – portraits of the Van Vleck family: Joseph, his third wife, Louise, and his six children. The Van Vleck Series (1978) comprises eight 43” x 37” wood panels with acrylic and solvent transfers on fabric, featuring purple, red and yellow-striped fabric rectangles, white negative space, and varying imagery from art history, travel, nature, and outer space. Rauschenberg described the Van Vleck paintings as, “a group of abstract portraits each with the family unification and restrictions, and each with the uniqueness and curiosity of the chosen individual in the choosing” (“Van Vleck Series”). The portraits are encompassed in Rauschenberg’s Spreads series (1976-1981), in which he returned to his transfer printing process that he invented in the 1950s to transfer images from printed media using solvents and a lithography press. The word “spread” denotes a colloquialism for a broad tract of land in the West used to raise livestock, reflected in the expansive panels and grid-like structure of brightly hued fabrics characteristic of the series (“Robert Rauschenberg: Van Vleck Series”).

Joseph Van Vleck, Jr. was a member of the wealthy Van Vleck family of Montclair, New Jersey, where he designed and built a Mediterranean-style villa in 1916 on his family’s lavish estate, now open to the public as a historical site. The family’s strong interest in architecture and horticulture are reflected in Rauschenberg’s portraits (“House History”; “Robert Rauschenberg: Van Vleck Series”). Joseph’s daughter Sarita Van Vleck returned to live on Captiva and, an artist herself, was a good friend of Rauschenberg’s from the time he arrived on Captiva in the early 1970s. She recalls her fondest memories of staying on Captiva as taking her kayak out to Pine Island Sound and sketching birds along the mangroves (S. Van Vleck).

A contractor’s bid for the construction of the Bay House was created in May 1966 for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home. The project was referred to as “A House for Mrs. Joseph Van Vleck, Jr.”; Joseph was hesitant to build the home but his second wife, Virginia, insisted on it (“Specifications”; S. Van Vleck). The house was originally located where the Main Studio now stands. As a condition of the Restriction Agreement Rauschenberg signed at the time of purchase, he could not renovate without gaining consent of the SCCF, the Nature Conservancy, and the National Audubon Society (Real Estate Restriction Agreement). He obtained permission and in 1988, the Bay House was moved to its current location, raised up on pilings, and renovated (“Relocation Bay House”; Captiva Memories). Rauschenberg used the house as “guest and workers quarters and metal storage” (“Bay House”).

MAIN STUDIO

Construction of Rauschenberg’s new studio – now referred to as the Main Studio – began in 1990 and was completed in March 1993 (Captiva aerial, 1990; “Chronology”). The studio, described as “a cross between the Taj Mahal and the Pentagon,” was designed by Rauschenberg and his partner, Daryl Pottorf (“Chronology”; Tomkins 141). The downstairs of the studio housed metal and wood fabrication equipment, a red room and exposure room for screenprinting, and a darkroom. A large freight elevator leads to the upstairs space – Rauschenberg wanted an elevator big enough for a car after having to deconstruct his old studio space to accommodate the BMW car in 1986 (Hall, 2019; Voytek 197-198). Upstairs, the open 3200-square-foot studio space had large work tables lined up throughout; a gallery space called the Shotgun Gallery due to its elongated rectangular shape; a digital printing area; a washout room; and a kitchen (Felsen 60).

Notable series completed in this space include the Shales series (1994-95), using encaustic to transfer photographic images to a wax-covered canvas; the Anagram series (1995-97), an image transfer series using a handheld burnishing implement that made the artist’s hand more apparent; the Short Stories series (2000-02), incorporating natural and man-made motifs intended as inspiration for an ever-changing story; and the Scenario series (2002-06), a refinement of the Short Stories series with two panels of imagery arranged in a grid-like format (“Chronology”).

Rauschenberg continued to make work in his new studio until his death in 2008. Rauschenberg’s son, Christopher Rauschenberg, quotes his father as saying, “I’m not afraid of dying, I just don’t want to miss anything” (Captiva Memories).

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