Edward Ruscha Books

Volume Seven of the Edward Ruscha Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, covering the years 2004 to 2011, comprises 230 paintings and studies that are reproduced in color and accompanied by detailed exhibition and bibliographic histories. The work of this period extends various earlier series, including Ruscha’s “mountain” paintings, a number of which now incorporate texts from Jack Kerouac’s novel On the Road. Other important works take decay, waste and retrieval, and the passage of time as themes, notably the “Course of Empire” series (Ruscha’s contribution to the 51st Venice Biennale) and the “Psycho Spaghetti Western” paintings. This 550-page volume, co-published by Gagosian Gallery, is edited by Robert Dean with Lisa Turvey and contains essays by Thierry de Duve and Linda Norden.

Genius. Anti-artist. Charlatan. Impostor! Since 1914 Marcel Duchamp has been called all of these. No artist of the 20th century has aroused more passion and controversy, nor exerted a greater influence on art, the very nature of which Duchamp challenged and redefined as concept rather than product by questioning its traditionally privileged optical nature. At the same time, he never ceased to be engaged, openly or secretly, in provocative activities and works that transformed traditional artmaking procedures. Written with the enthusiastic support of Duchamp's widow, this is one of the most original and important books ever written on this enigmatic artist, and challenges received ideas, misunderstanding and misinformation

Picasso called Dali "an outboard motor that's always running." Dali thought himself a genius with a right to indulge in whatever lunacy popped into his head. Painter, sculptor, writer, and filmmaker, Salvador Dali (1904-1989) was one of the century's greatest exhibitionists and eccentrics - and was rewarded with fierce controversy wherever he went. He was one of the first to apply the insights of Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis to the art of painting, approaching the subconscious with extraordinary sensitivity and imagination. This lively monograph presents the infamous Surrealist in full color and in his own words. His provocative imagery is all here, from the soft watches to the notorious burning giraffe. A friend of the artist for over thirty years, privy to the reality behind Dali's public image, author Robert Descharnes is uniquely qualified to analyze Dali - both the man and the myth.

One hundred seventy-one monochromes are reproduced in an overview of the nature and evolution of photomontage

Focusing on Ed Ruscha's groundbreaking contributions to contemporary art, this comprehensive three-volume set serves as a definitive catalogue raisonné of his books, prints, and photographic editions. It highlights his pioneering role in conceptual photography and the artist's book movement, showcasing over 500 graphic works. Curator Siri Engberg provides detailed entries and new photography, while scholarly essays offer insights into Ruscha's artistic journey. Additional resources include his 1975 text "The Information Man," a bibliography, and visual archives documenting his collaborations.

The first publication to explore the friendship between Marcel Duchamp and Salvador Dali, two of the most important artists of the twentieth century. The book features previously unpublished material and accompanies a ground- breaking exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.

Enchanted Ground is about the challenge to modernist criticism by Surrealist writers-mainly André Breton but also Louis Aragon, Pierre Mabille, René Magritte, Charles Estienne, René Huyghe and others-who viewed the same artists in terms of magic, occultism, precognition, alchemy and esotericism generally. It introduces the history of the ways in which those artists who came after Impressionism-Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Georges Seurat, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh-became canonical in the 20th century through the broad approaches we now call modernist or formalist (by critics and curators such as Alfred H. Barr, Roger Fry, Robert Goldwater, Clement Greenberg, John Rewald and Robert L. Herbert), and then unpacks chapter-by-chapter, for the first time in a single volume, the Surrealist positions on the same artists. To this end, it contributes to new strains of scholarship on Surrealism that exceed the usual bounds of the 1920s and 1930s and that examine the fascination within the movement with magic.

Now available in paperback, this book on the celebrated Dada artist Hannah Höch explores her use of collage as the artistic medium of choice for both satire and poetic beauty. World-renowned for her work during the Weimar period, Hannah Höch was a pioneer in many aspects, both artistic and cultural. She was the lone woman of the Berlin Dada movement — the riotous form of art that deconstructed sound, language, and images to re-assemble them into new objects, texts and meanings. A determined believer in women’s rights, Höch questioned conventional concepts of partnership, beauty and the making of art, her work presenting acute critiques of racial and social stereotypes, particularly that of her native Germany. Focusing on Höch’s collages, this book examines the artist’s career from the 1920s to the 1970s, charting her oeuvre from early works influenced by fashion and mass media, through to her later compositions of lyrical abstraction. It reveals her rapid development of a personal style, which was both humorous and often moving. Included are essays that examine themes such as the concept of the »New Woman« and the legacy of German colonialism. Featuring international scholarship on a groundbreaking artist, this volume brings together important source texts and reference material, which were first translated into English for the original edition of this book.