In 1953, Rauschenberg asked artist Willem de Kooning, an Abstract Expressionist painter whom he admired, for a drawing to erase. De Kooning agreed, selecting a drawing that he thought would be particularly difficult to rub out. Rauschenberg claimed that it took him a month, and about 40 erasers, to complete the job. He kept the erased drawing in his studio for two years. In 1955, when he was invited to submit a drawing to show at the Elinor Poindexter Gallery, Jasper Johns persuaded him to exhibit it. Johns placed the drawing in a gold frame and produced the work's inscription.