Ed Ruscha, Detail of notes from Notebook. © Ed Ruscha.
The J. Paul Getty Museum and the Getty Research Institute announced today the joint acquisition of over seventy photographs by artist Ed Ruscha as well as his Streets of Los Angeles archive, including thousands of negatives, hundreds of photographic contact sheets, and related documents and ephemera. A portion of the material will come to the Getty as a promised gift from the artist.
One of the most influential American artists working today, Ruscha moved to Los Angeles in 1956 and has continued to live and work here, incorporating the citys architecture, streets, and even its attitude into paintings, prints, drawings, and photographs that are known for their graphic directness.
This combined acquisition by the Getty Museum and the Getty Research Institute now makes the Getty Center the preeminent resource for understanding the role of photography in Ruschas practice and will make this aspect of the artists work more widely accessible, locally and internationally. "I am humbled and elated to have my work go to the top of the hill," said Ruscha.
