Artist Index: Ruscha, Ed

Ruscha, Ed. Some Los Angeles Apartments. 24 Bl. Mit 36 fotograf. Abb. 18 x 14 cm. OBroschur mit OPergaminumschlag (Rückdeckel und Umschlag mit leichtem Wasserschaden). Los Angeles, Anderson, Ritchie & Simon, 1965.
Erste Ausgabe. Die Auflage betrug laut Druckvermerk 700 Exemplare. – Gutes Exemplar; letztes Bl. mit kl. Sammlerstempel.

Ruscha, Ed. Twentysix Gasoline Stations. Second Edition. Mit 26 meist ganzs. fotograf. Abb. 18 x 14 cm. OBroschur mit OPergaminumschlag (dieser etwas gebräunt). Alhambra, The Cunningham Press, 1967.
Eines von 500 Exemplaren. Mit den "Gasoline Stations" eröffnete Ruscha seine berühmte Buchreihe: "The most renowned series of artist’s books in the history of the genre. Ed Ruscha’s works still retain their capacity to surprice, delight and puzzle in equal measure. In the several decades since they were published, they have been much exhibited, written about and analyzed, yet the somehow are still objects of mystery and fascination, beguiling in their utter simplicity and immutable rightness." (Parr/Badger). – Sehr guets Exemplar; letztes Bl. mit kl. Sammlerstempel.

Ruscha, Ed, Mason Williams und Patrick Blackwell. Royal Road Test. 32 Bl. Mit 37 (davon 2 doppelblattgr.) s/w-Abbildungen. 24,5 x 16 cm. OKart. mit Spiralbindung. Los Angeles, Selbstverlag, 1967.
Erste Ausgabe der in kleiner Auflage erschienenen photographischen Dokumentation einer Aktion im Jahr 1966, bei der eine altehrwürdige, neuwertige Royal-Schreibmaschine (Modell X) auf dem U. S. Highway 91 bei Las Vegas aus einem fahrenden Auto geworfen wurde (Geschwindigkeit: 90 m.p.h./144 km/h). Ruscha war der Fahrer, Blackwell der Fotograf und Williams wuchtete das schwere Schreibgerät aus dem Fenster. Den Kern der Dokumentation bildet eine fotografische Untersuchung der über eine Strecke von 189 ft (57,6 m) verstreuten Überreste des "Typewriters". – Wasserrandig.

Dutch Details. Unpaginated. 11 x 38 cm. 22 pp. Original white wrappers with title printed on cover in black (corners/edges bumped, front covers browned especially in left side, some scuff marks, some creases, slightly soiled), with ten fold-outs, each with twelve offset photograph reproductions. Text in Dutch and English. Deventer, The Netherlands, Octopus Foundation, 1971.

A copy of this book is in the collection of the MET Museum, New York and is catalogued as follows: "In December 1970, Ruscha was invited to produce a photobook in conjunction with the Sonsbeek 71 exhibition in the Netherlands. Wim Beeren, the commissioner of the international festival, chose the location (Stadskanaal—a village in Groningen built along both sides of a straight canal) for the commission, but left the specifics of the project up to Ruscha. Once on site, Ruscha began photographing the facades of the houses along the canal, undoubtedly informed by his panorama of Los Angeles, Every Building on the Sunset Strip (1966). The topography of the Dutch village led Ruscha to a different approach, however, and the book is conceptually more performative than the earlier work, inasmuch as it directly encompasses a site-specific action: the artist’s journey back and forth across the bridges of the canal, with each trip documented by six photographs, which progress from a distant view to a close-up detail of the house directly across both sides of a given bridge. The oversized horizontal format of the book, with each leaf a gatefold representing the two sequences of photographs made on a single bridge, is also unique in Ruscha’s oeuvre. Although the book was supposed to have an open edition, available by mail order, it did not sell well and the printer removed and disposed all extra copies from its warehouse. Dutch Details is thus the rarest of Ruscha’s books". – Limited first edition. Engberg B14. Pages with toning in edges, some linen joint tapes lifting off paper, otherwise good copy inside.