Edward Ruscha

This definitive three-volume publication is the most comprehensive assessment to date on the books, prints and photographic editions of Ed Ruscha, who since the early 1960s has been one of contemporary art’s most innovative practitioners in the graphic arts. A pioneer of conceptual photography and the contemporary artist’s book, Ruscha has also produced more than 500 graphic works that set him apart as a prolific and experimental innovator in nearly every printmaking technique.
This publication documents each of the artist’s projects in these three essential areas of production. Volume one is dedicated to scholarly essays by Engberg and artist book specialist Clive Phillpot, providing context and analysis of Ruscha’s achievements in the area of editions through the full arc of the artist’s career. Volume two focuses on Ruscha’s books, while volume three spotlights his prints and photographic editions. The catalogue raisonné entries compiled by curator and contemporary print scholar Siri Engberg feature detailed data and new photography, with full-color images of all prints and editioned photographic works, as well as a photographic inventory of each artist’s book cover and interior pages. Additional resources include Ruscha’s 1975 text The Information Man, a selected bibliography and exhibition history and photographic “visual archives” chronicling Ruscha’s activities working with print workshops and other collaborators.
Ed Ruscha (born 1937) studied at the California Institute of the Arts under Robert Irwin and Emerson Woelffler. He is best known for his text-based works which place single words or phrases against colorful backgrounds. Ruscha has received retrospective exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Walker Art Center and most recently at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.