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ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN

September 10, 2023 – January 13, 2024

The Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art announces ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN, the most comprehensive presentation of the artist’s work, and his first solo exhibition at the Museum, from September 10, 2023, through January 13, 2024, in the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Center for Special Exhibitions. Spanning 65 years of Ed Ruscha’s remarkable career and mirroring his own cross-disciplinary approach, the exhibition will feature over 250 works, produced from 1958 to the present, in various mediums—including painting, drawing, prints, film, 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 and stressing Ruscha’s role as a keen observer of our rapidly changing world.

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.

Generous funding for the MoMA presentation 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 Jo Carole and Ronald 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.

Images

Important: By downloading images you are agreeing to the following permissions: Images are provided exclusively to the press, and only for purposes of publicity of The Museum of Modern Art's and MoMA PS1's current and upcoming exhibitions, programs, and news announcements. Permission to use images is granted only to the extent of the Museum's and MoMA PS1's ownership rights relating to those images—the responsibility for any additional permissions remains solely with the party reproducing the images. The images must be accompanied by the credit line and any copyright information as it appears above, and the party reproducing the images must not distort or mutilate the images.

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. © 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. Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half. 1964. Oil on canvas, 65 × 121 1/2” (165.1 × 308.6 cm). Private Collection, Fort Worth. © 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. © Edward Ruscha, courtesy The Museum of Modern Art, Department of Imaging Services

Ed 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. © Edward Ruscha, courtesy The Museum of Modern Art, Department of Imaging Services, photo Peter Butler

Ed Ruscha. Nine Swimming Pools and a Broken Glass. 1968. Artist’s book, offset printed, 7 × 5 1/2 × 3/16″ (17.8 × 14 × 0.5 cm). Publisher: Ed Ruscha. Printer: Blair Litho, Los Angeles. Edition: 2,400. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Partial gift of the Daled Collection and partial purchase through the generosity of Maja Oeri and Hans Bodenmann, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, Agnes Gund, Marlene Hess and James D. Zirin, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis, and Jerry I. Speyer and Katherine G. Farley. © Edward Ruscha. Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian.

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). Publisher: Editions Alecto, London. Printer: Alecto Studios, London. Edition: proof before the edition of 125. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchased through the generosity of Kathy and Richard S. Fuld, Jr. © Edward Ruscha, courtesy The Museum of Modern Art, Department of Imaging Services, photo Peter Butler

Ed Ruscha. Jumbo. 1986. Synthetic polymer paint 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. © Edward Ruscha, courtesy The Museum of Modern Art, Department of Imaging Services