Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Volume One: 1958-1970

Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Volume One: 1958-1970 opens the multi-volume scholarly record of Edward Ruscha's paintings, documenting the years in which his signature vocabulary of words, signs, and Los Angeles vernacular imagery first took shape.

The volume reproduces and catalogues every known painting from the period, accompanied by essays from curator Walter Hopps and art historian Yve-Alain Bois that trace Ruscha's emergence from a Pop-adjacent sensibility toward the deadpan, text-driven language for which he became known. Published jointly by Gagosian Gallery and Steidl, the 464-page hardcover is issued in a slipcase, in keeping with the series' function as a definitive reference rather than a trade monograph.

Ruscha, born in 1937 and based in Los Angeles since the late 1950s, is one of the defining figures of postwar American art, known equally for his paintings, photobooks, and prints built around language, signage, and the built landscape of Southern California. This first volume anchors the ongoing catalogue raisonné project that continues to document his paintings decade by decade.