ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN

September 10, 2023 – January 13, 2024

The Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art presents ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN, the most comprehensive retrospective of the artist’s work ever staged, and his first solo exhibition at the Museum, from September 10, 2023, through January 13, 2024. Organized in close collaboration with the artist and mirroring his own cross-disciplinary approach, the exhibition will feature over 200 works, produced from 1958 to the present, in various media—including painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, artist’s books, and installation—displayed according to a loose chronology throughout the Museum’s sixth- floor galleries. Alongside the artist’s most acclaimed works, the exhibition will highlight lesser-known aspects of his practice, offering new perspectives on one of the most influential figures in postwar American art.

ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN is co-organized by MoMA and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The exhibition is organized by Christophe Cherix, The Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings and Prints, with Ana Torok, The Sue and Eugene Mercy, Jr. Assistant Curator, and Kiko Aebi, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings and Prints. Following its presentation at MoMA, the exhibition will travel to LACMA, where it will be realized in association with Michael Govan, CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director, from April 7 through October 6, 2024.

Bank of America is the National Sponsor of ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN.

Major support for the MoMA presentation is provided by Agnes Gund, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, and by The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art.

Generous funding is provided by the Sandorf Family Charitable Gift Fund and by the Eunice and Joseph Fearer Fund for the Department of Drawings and Prints.

Additional support is provided by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Generous funding for the publication is provided by Ronald S. and Jo Carole Lauder through The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art.

The Bloomberg Connects digital experience is made possible through the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Press Kit

Images

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Ed Ruscha. Actual Size. 1962. Oil on canvas, 67 1/16 × 72 1/16” (170.3 × 183.0
cm). Los Angeles County Museum of Art, anonymous gift through the Contemporary Art Council. © 2023 Edward Ruscha. Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Ed Ruscha. OOF. 1962 (reworked 1963). Oil on canvas, 71 1/2 × 67” (181.5 × 170.2 cm). Gift of Agnes Gund, the Louis and Bessie Adler Foundation, Inc., Robert and Meryl Meltzer, Jerry I. Speyer, Anna Marie and Robert F. Shapiro, Emily and Jerry Spiegel, an anonymous donor, and purchase. © Edward Ruscha, courtesy The Museum of Modern Art, Department of Imaging Services, photo Denis Doorly

Ed Ruscha, Large Trademark with Eight Spotlights, 1962. Oil, house paint, ink, and pencil on canvas, 5′ 6 3⁄4″ × 11′ 1 1⁄4″ (169.5 × 338.5 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Purchase with funds from the Mrs. Percy Uris Purchase Fund. © 2023 Ed Ruscha. Digital image © Whitney Museum of American Art / Licensed by Scala / Art Resource, NY

Ed Ruscha. Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half. 1964. Oil on canvas, 65 × 121 1/2” (165.1 × 308.6 cm). Private Collection. © 2023 Edward Ruscha. Photo Evie Marie Bishop, courtesy of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

Ed Ruscha. Hey with Curled Edge. 1964. Ink and powdered graphite on paper, 11 5/8 × 12 1/2” (29.5 × 31.8 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the artist. © 2023 Edward Ruscha. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Department of Imaging Services, photo Robert Gerhardt

Artforum 5, no. 1 (Surrealism special Issue), September 1966. 10 5⁄8 × 10 1⁄2″ (27 × 26.7 cm) (closed). Cover: Ed Ruscha, Surrealism Soaped and Scrubbed. © 2023 Ed Ruscha. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Department of Imaging Services, photo Robert Gerhardt

Ed Ruscha, Every Building on the Sunset Strip, 1966. Artist’s book, offset printed, 7 × 5 5⁄8 × 3⁄8″ (closed) (17.8 × 14.3 × 1 cm); 7″ × 24′ 11 1⁄2″ (open). © 2023 Ed Ruscha. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Department of Imaging Services, photo Jonathan Muzikar

Ed Ruscha, Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Fire, 1965-68. Oil on canvas, 4′ 5 1⁄2″ × 11′ 1 1⁄2″ (135.9 × 339.1 cm). Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC. Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. © 2023 Ed Ruscha. Photo Paul Ruscha

Ruscha. Self. 1967. Pastel and gunpowder on paper, 14 1/2 × 22 1/2″ (36.8 × 57.2 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Sarah-Ann and Werner H. Kramarsky. © 2023 Edward Ruscha. The Museum of Modern Art, Department of Imaging Services, photo Peter Butler

Ed Ruscha, Rancho, 1968. Oil on canvas, 60 x 54″ (152.4 x 137.2 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Steven and Alexandra Cohen. © 2023 Ed Ruscha. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Department of Imaging Services, photo Emile Askey

Ed Ruscha. News from News, Mews, Pews, Brews, Stews & Dues. 1970. One from a portfolio of six organic screenprints, 23 1/16 × 31 7/8″ (58.6 × 81 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchased through the generosity of Kathy and Richard S. Fuld, Jr. © 2023 Edward Ruscha. The Museum of Modern Art, Department of Imaging Services, photo Peter Butler

Ed Ruscha, The Music from the Balconies, 1984. Oil on canvas, 8′ 3″ × 6′ 9″ (251.5 × 205.7 cm). ARTIST ROOMS Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland. Presented by the artist. © 2023 Ed Ruscha. Photo Tate

Ed Ruscha. Jumbo. 1986. Acrylic on canvas, 6’ 10 1/8” × 8’ 2 1/8” (208.6 × 249 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Given anonymously in memory of Nicholas Wilder; Sid R. Bass, Douglas S. Cramer, and Jeanne C. Thayer Funds; and gift of The Cowles Charitable Trust. © 2023 Edward Ruscha. The Museum of Modern Art, Department of Imaging Services, photo Emile Askey

Ed Ruscha, The Old Trade School Building, 2005. Acrylic on canvas, 4′ 6″ × 10′ (137.2 × 304.8 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Gift of The American Contemporary Art Foundation, Inc., Leonard A. Lauder, President. © 2023 Ed Ruscha. Digital image © Whitney Museum of American Art / Licensed by Scala / Art Resource, NY

Ed Ruscha. Photo: Sten Rosenlund

Cover of ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN, published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Installation view of ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN, on view at The Museum of Modern Art from September 10, 2023 through January 13, 2024. Photo: Jonathan Dorado