Robert Rauschenberg Combines First Edition BookFirst Edition Term coined by Jasper Johns to describe a body of work by Robert Rauschenberg consisting of three dimensional objects integrated into paintings. Rauschenberg made his first Combines in 1954, and continued to affix a motley assortment of cast off items (from newspaper clippings and quilts to taxidermied animals) to traditional painting supports until 1964. His Combines collapse distinctions between the materials of artmaking and ordinary