Leo Castelli recalled meeting Rauschenberg for the first time in 1951 on the occasion of the artist's show at Betty Parsons. A private art dealer for several years, Castelli opened his gallery in 1957 at the residence he shared with his then wife, Ileana, at 4 East 77th Street. Castelli heard about Rauschenberg’s work and went with Sonnabend and the artist’s friend, composer Morton Feldman, to visit Rauschenberg at his Pearl Street studio in March of 1957. When Rauschenberg went downstairs to get ice from Johns’s refrigerator, Castelli asked, "Do you mean the man that painted the green painting that's at the Jewish Museum?" Traveling the flight down, Castelli offered Johns a solo show on the spot. While Castelli showcased Rauschenberg and Johns’ work in an early group exhibition, New Work, in May 1957, it was not until 1958 that Rauschenberg had a solo show at Castelli’s gallery—a slight that ostensibly lingered in the artist's mind. Castelli was one of the first gallerists to present works of contemporary American and European artists together, and he became a champion of Rauschenberg, Johns, Frank Stella, and Pop artists like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and James Rosenquist.