Skip to content

Getty Museum acquires Ed Ruscha’s photographs and archive

Ed Ruscha - Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas

Ed Ruscha (American, born 1937)
Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas,” 1962.
Gelatin silver print. © Ed Ruscha

The Getty acquires Ruscha’s photographs and archive The Getty Museum and the Getty Research have acquired over seventy photographs by American artist Ed Ruscha, as well as his ‘Streets of Los Angeles archive’, which includes negatives, photographic contact sheets, and related documents.]]>

October 8th, 2011, source: Getty Museum / theartwolf

This important acquisition by the Getty Museum and the Getty Research Institute joins works by Ed Ruscha already in the collection of the GRI, including unpublished photographs and the only known complete run of “Orb”, a journal edited by the artist while still a student at Chouinard Art Institute.

We are thrilled to add these essential works by Ruscha to the Museum’s photography collection,” said David Bomford, acting director at the Getty Museum. Edward Ruscha said that he was “humbled and elated” to have his work go “to the top of the hill“.

A portion of the material acquired goes to the Getty as a promised gift from Ruscha.

About the artist
Edward Joseph Ruscha (born 1937) is an American artist associated with the Pop art movement. Ruscha moved to Los Angeles in 1956, and began exhibiting with Ferus Gallery in 1963. Photography has played a crucial role throughout Ruscha’s career, and some of his early series of photographs -such as “Twentysix Gasoline Stations” (1963)- rank among his most famous works.

Related content

Getty Museum: acquisitions for a new era (article at theartwolf, August 2011)

Follow us on:

Getty Museum acquires Ed Ruscha's photographs and archive