Edward Ruscha: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings. Volume One: 1958 - 1970

by Ed Ruscha (Artist)

Switching to a career in fine art from his dream of becoming a commercial artist, Ed Ruscha first came into prominence in the early 60s with his large word paintings and paintings of commercial icons, such as Twentieth Century Fox and Standard Station, that related in manner and style to the nascent Pop art movement. Drawing on a variety of sources that also included his own drawings, prints and artist's books, Ruscha was often associated with the west coast cool style, but ultimately his work confounded the art world with its sly and elusive sense of deadpan humor, as seen in his series of bird paintings and in the liquid word paintings that rounded out the decade. The Edward Ruscha Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings is a five-volume series under the general editorship of the Gagosian Gallery, and is a co-publication between Gagosian Gallery and Steidl Verlag. Volume One contains 137 paintings printed in full color from Ruscha's student period to the Pop- and Conceptual-inflected word paintings of the 60s. The catalogue includes a comprehensive exhibition history, bibliography and biographical chronology, as well as an appreciation by former Menil Collection director Walter Hopps and an essay exploring Ruscha's pioneering use of language as a subject matter by art historian Yve-Alain Bois of Harvard University.
Set in Franklin Book type and printed on acid-free, 170-gram Job Parilux paper, each volume of the catalogue has a stitched binding and a cloth cover with silver-colored embossing protected by an embossed slipcase. Specifications for subsequent volumes are the same. All reproductions were converted to digital form, thanks to which process it has been possible to restore the reproductions of long-lost paintings.

Genres: Art

469 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Edward Ruscha is a towering figure of American Pop Art whose multidisciplinary practice redefined the visual language of the late twentieth century. Born in Omaha and raised in Oklahoma City, Ruscha moved to Los Angeles in 1956 to study at the Chouinard Art Institute, where he was mentored by Robert Irwin and Emerson Woelffer. Rising to prominence in the early 1960s alongside the influential Ferus Gallery group, he gained international acclaim for his "word paintings"—monosyllabic oils like OOF, BOSS, and HONK—which isolated typography against monochromatic backgrounds, reflecting his background in commercial art and a fascination with the "deadpan" irreverence of the Pop movement. His work is inextricably linked to the vernacular of Southern California, capturing the sprawling aesthetics of Los Angeles through iconic depictions of the Hollywood sign, stylized gas stations, and continuous photographic surveys such as Every Building on the Sunset Strip. A master of diverse media, Ruscha has famously experimented with unconventional materials, including gunpowder, blood, axle grease, and various food products like chocolate syrup and caviar, to create works that bridge the gap between commercial graphics and fine art. His influence extends significantly into the "New Topographics" photography movement and conceptual art, challenging traditional views of the urban landscape by dispassionately documenting America’s suburban structures. In 1962, his work was featured in the groundbreaking New Painting of Common Objects exhibition, widely considered one of the first Pop Art surveys in America. Throughout his storied career, he has been the subject of major retrospectives at the world’s leading museums, including the Centre Pompidou, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Museum of Modern Art. Ruscha has also contributed to public spaces through monumental commissions for the Getty Center and the Miami-Dade Public Library. In recognition of his enduring impact, he represented the United States at the Venice Biennale in both 1970 and 2005, and in 2013, he was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. His artistic reach even touched popular culture, with his typeface "Boy Scout Utility Modern" and his collaboration on cover art for Paul McCartney and The Beatles. Beyond his own production, Ruscha has served as a trustee for the Museum of Contemporary Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, underscoring his leadership within the arts community. His unique "cool gaze" remains a quintessential chronicler of the American West, blending the cinematic proportions of Hollywood with the mundane reality of the open road. Today, his works are held in premier permanent collections worldwide, cementing his legacy as a defining artist of the postwar era who transformed the way we read, see, and experience the modern environment.

Reviews

[Valorie Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some Catalogue Raisonnés are better than others—this is one of the great ones. As a compendium if Ruscha’s paintings as well as a list of his contributed writing for the years the book covers (1958-70), this is an invaluable resource. As a nice touch, the book also includes photos from his artist notebooks that show the notes he was taking while painting some of his most famous works.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm very happy that my library has this series of books because they are huge and heavy but so beautiful, and I love seeing Ed Ruscha's fascinating body of work chronologically shown in such crisp detail.