Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas

Label

During the late 1950s and into the 1960s, Los Angeles artist Edward Ruscha repeatedly drove US Route 66 to visit his family in Oklahoma City. These trips inspired a series of photographs, Twenty-Six Gasoline Stations, which celebrated the ubiquitous, if banal, roadside gas stations along his way. Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas also emerged from his ongoing highway projects—it is based on an actual Standard Station in Amarillo. As the artist explained, “I don’t have any Seine River like Monet. I just have U.S. 66 between Oklahoma and Los Angeles.”

With Standard Station Ruscha helped to define both the modern American landscape and the emerging artistic movement of the 1960s: Pop Art. The attention to detail found in the precise lines, angles, and lettering grew out of Ruscha’s experience in advertising and graphic design. He, like other Pop artists, found a fitting source for a truly American art in the exaggerated graphic style of road signs. His painting appears simultaneously realistic and contrived. Searchlights scan the night sky, beckoning travelers from afar to this red-white-and-blue icon of American life. It can be viewed as a wry gesture of admiration for the optimism associated with American car culture.

From the 2019 exhibition The Expanding Universe of Postwar Art, curated by John R. Stomberg Ph.D, Virginia Rice Kelsey 1961s Director

Course History

FREN 7, French Graphic Novels, Annabelle Cone, Spring 2013

ENVS 80, Writing Our Way Home: The Writing That Sustains Us, Terry Tempest Williams, Spring 2013

Exhibition History

Acquisitions 1974-1978, Jaffe-Friede, Strauss and Barows Galleries, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 8, 1978-January 21, 1979.

Amerikanische Malerei 1930-1980, Haus der Kunst, Munich, West Germany, November 14, 1981-January 31, 1982, no. 44.

Art in Los Angeles: Seventeen Artists in the Sixties, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, July 21-October 4, 1981; San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, Texas, November 20, 1981-January 31, 1982, no. 103.

By the Side of the Road, The Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire, June 24-October 22, 1978, no. 12.

Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 14, 1994-March 6, 1995.

Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 30, 1998-September 20, 1999.

Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 15-April 8, 1998.

Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 2-September 16, 2001.

Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 10, 2004-September 4, 2005.

Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 21-August 6, 1996.

Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 5-September 25, 1995.

Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 31, 1992-May 17, 1993.

Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 1, 1996-June 22, 1997.

Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 8, 2006-December 11, 2007.

Detroit Style: Car Design in the Motor City, 1950-2020, Detroit Institute of the Arts, Detroit Michigan, November 15, 2020-June 23 2021.

Ed Ruscha and the Great American West, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young Museum, San Francisco, California, July 9, 2016-October 9, 2016.

Ed Ruscha: Now/Then, Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York, September 10, 2023-January 6, 2024; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, April 7-October 6, 2024.

Ed Ruscha: Road Tested, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas, January 23-April 17, 2011.

Edward Ruscha, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, June 22-September 17, 2000; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 20, 2000-February 5, 2001; Miami Art Museum, Miami, Florida, March 22-June 3, 2001; Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, England, November 4, 2001-January 13, 2002; Kuntstmuseum, Wolfsburg, February 2-April 28, 2002.

Edward Ruscha: Standard Stations, Amarillo Art Center, Amarillo, Texas, June 19-August 8, 1993.

Environments U.S.A. 1957-1967, Museu de Arte Moderna, Sao Paulo, Brazil, September 22, 1966-February, 26, 1967.

High & Low: Modern Art and Popular Culture, Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York, October 3, 1990-January 15, 1991; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, February 20-May 12, 1991; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California, June 21-September 15, 1991.

Hot Spots: Rio de Janeiro/Milan-Turin/Los Angeles, Kunsthaus Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, February 13-May 3, 2009.

International Pop, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, April 11-September 6, 2015; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, October 11, 2015-January 17, 2016; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 18-May 15, 2016.

Landmark Pictures: Ed Ruscha/Andreas Gursky, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts, January 8-March 19, 2000.

Light in Art, Jaffe-Friede, Strauss and Barrows Galleries, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 2, 1977-January 29, 1978.

Los Angeles 1958-1968, Modena Museet, Stockholm, Sweden, October 4, 2008-January 4, 2009

Made in U.S.A.: An Americanization in Modern Art, the '50s and '60s, University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, California, April 4-June 21, 1987; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, July 25-September 6, 1987; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, October 7-December 7, 1987.

Modern and Contemporary Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 26,2009-March 15, 2010.

Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture 1950-1970, The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center, , Los Angeles, California, October 1, 2011-February 5, 2012; Martin Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany, March 15-June 10, 2012.

Ruscha and Pop: Icons of the 1960's, Harrington Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 12-June 15, 2008.

The Expanding Universe of Postwar Art, Northeast Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 26-December 1, 2019.

The Works of Edward Rusha, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California, March 25-May 30, 1982; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, July 8-September 5, 1982; Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada, October 4-November 28,1982; San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonia, Texas, December 27, 1982-February 20, 1983; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, March 25-May 30, 1983, no. 13.

Three Young Collections, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, January 15-February 26, 1967.

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, October 19, 2016-June 30, 2018.

Word and Image in Contemporary Art, Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 26-August 4, 2013.

Publication History

Barnaby Conrad III, John Register: Persistant Observer, San Francisco: Modernism Books c/o Barnaby Conrad III, 1998, 192 pp., ill.

H. H. Arnason,-4th ed./Marla F. Prather, revising author, History of Modern Art, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1998, p. 545, ill.p. 533, color plate 318.

Aaron Betsky, editor, Icons: Magnets of Meaning, San Francisco: Museum of Modern Art, 1997, ill. p. 239.

Rebecca Bailey, What Is There to Teach About Art?, Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, vol. 88, no. 8, May 1996, South Burlington: The Lane Press Inc., 1996, pp. 36-45, ill. p. 39.

The New Handbook of Texas, In Six Volumes; Volume 1, Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1996, ill. plate 70.

Midori Yamakawa, Andy Warhol and Pop Artists, Tokyo: Geijutsu shincho, 1996, ill. p. 40.

Thomas Crow, The Rise of the Sixties: American and European Art in the Era of Dissent, London: Calmann & King, Ltd., 1996, ill. p. 81.

Thomas Buser, Experiencing Art Around Us, St. Paul, Minnesota: West Publishing Company, 1995, ill. p. 159.

Ivo Kranzfelder, Edward Hopper, 1882-1967: Vision der Wirklichkeit, Koln: Benedikt Taschen Verlag, 1994, ill. p. 70.

Frederick Hartt, Art: A History of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture (with contributions by Nan Rosenthal), 4th edition, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1993, pp. 1038-1039, ill. p. 1038.

William C. Seitz and Marla Price, Art in the Age of Aquarius 1955-1970, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992, p. 186.

Kirk Varnedoe and Adam Gopnik, High & Low: Modern Art and Popular Culture, New York, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1990, ill. p. 346.

Christin Mamiya, Sheldon Solo: Edward Ruscha, Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1990.

Pontus Hulten et. al., Edward Ruscha, Barcelona: Centre Cultural de la Fundacio Caixa de Pensions, 1990, ill. p. 37, fig. 1.

Daniel Wheeler, Modern Art Since Mid-Century, New York, New York: The Vendome Press, 1989.

Laura Chapman, Teaching Art, Worcester, Massachusetts: Davis Publications, Inc., 1988.

Sidra Stich, Made in U.S.A.: An Americanization in Modern Art, Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1987, pp. 67-69, ill. p. 67, fig. 63.

Jacquelynn Baas, "From "a few curious Elephants Bones" to Picasso", Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, September 1985, Hanover, New Hampshire: Dartmouth College, 1985, pp. 37-43, ill. p. 39.

Malcolm Cochran, Treasures of the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1985, no. 150, ill. p. 153.

David A. Lauer, Design Basics, 2nd edition, New York, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1985.

Michael DiLeo and Eleanor Smith, Two Californias, Coverlo, California: Island Press, 1983, ill. p. 80.

Becky Duval Reese, Susan M. Mayer, Arthur J. Mayer, Texas, Austin, Texas: Trillium Press, 1983, ill. p. 75.

William H. Goetzmann and Becky Duvall Reese, Images of Texas, Austin, Texas: The University of Texas at Austin, 1983, pp. 40-42, ill. p. 42.

Dave Hickey and Peter Plagens, The Works of Edward Ruscha, New York, New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1982, pp. 20, 161, 174, pl. 22.

Jerome Tarshis, "Ruscha in Retrospect", Portfolio, March-April 1982, pp. 110-111, ill. p. 110.

Tom Armstrong, Amerikanische Malerei 1930-1980, Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1981, p. 47, ill. p. 56.

Maurice Tuchman, Art in Los Angeles: Seventeen Artists in the Sixties, Los Angeles, California: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1981, no. 103, ill.

James V. Galgano, By the Side of the Road, Manchester, New Hampshire: The Currier Gallery of Art, 1978, ill. p. 8, fig. 12.

H. H. Arnason, History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, 2nd edition, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., and New York, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1978, pp. 640-642, ill. p. 642.

Sam Hunter and John Jacobus, American Art of the 20th Century: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, New York, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1973, ill. p. 357.

Art New England, Volume 21, Number 3, June/July 2000, ill. p. 45

Neal Benezra and Kerry Brougher, "Ed Ruscha", Washington. D.C.: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford and Scalo, Zurich, 2000, pp. 30-31.

David A. Lauer and Stephen Pentak, Design Basics, 5th edition, Fort Worth, Texas: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 2000, ill. p. 184.

Linda Norden, Landmark Pictures: Ed Ruscha/Andreas Gursky, Cambridge: Harvard University Art Museums, 2000, ill. cover.

Ed Ruscha, June 29 - September 17, 2000, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution (exhibition brochure), Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2000, ill. cover and p. 1.

Smithsonian Highlights, Smithsonian Magazine, Volume 31, Number 3, June 2000, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian, 2000, ill. p. 36

Wolfgang Spielhagen, editor-in-chief, 1000 Miles to the End of the Rainbow, Munich, Germany: Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, Pro Sport Verlag, 2001, 304 pp., ill. pp. 110-111.

Cecile Whiting, Pop L.A. Art and the City in the 1960s, Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 2006, ill. plate 8.

Carol Troyen, Judith A. Barter, Janet L. Comey, Elliot Bostwick Davis, and Ellen E. Roberts, Edward Hopper, Boston, Massachusetts: MFA Publications, 2007, pp. 222-223, ill. p. 223, figure 89.

Susan Davidson, Editor, Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation, New York, NY: Guggenheim Museum [concurrently with Merell Publishers Ltd, London and New York and Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago), 2007, ill. p. 276.

Kristin Monahan Garcia, Ruscha and Pop: Icons of the 1960's, Setting the Standard for Viewing the Modern World, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, Hood Museum of Art, 2008, ill. p. 1.

Lars Nittve and Lena Essling, Time & Place: Los Angeles 1957-1968 Exhibition Catalogue, Gottingen, GERMANY: Steidl / Stockhom, SWEDEN: Moderna Museet, 2008, 135 pp., color ill. p. 107.

Brian P. Kennedy and Emily Shubert Burke, Modern and Contemporary Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2009, ill. p. 50, no.26.

Les Cahiers du Mnam, Volume 112/113, ete/automne 2010, ill. p. 42.

Michael Auping and Richard Prince, Ed Ruscha: Road Tested, Fort Worth, Texas: The Board of Trustees, Fort Worth Art Association, 2011, ill. p. 62-63.

Geo Epoche Edition: Die Geschichte Der Kunst, Pop Art: Rebellion und Reklame, Hamburg: Gruner + Jar, 2012, No. 6, pp. 50-51.

Rebecca Peabody, Andrew Perchuk, Glenn Phillips, and Rani Singh. Pacific Standard Time: Los Angeles Art 1945 - 1980, Los Angeles: The Getty Research Institute and the J. Paul Getty Museum, 2011, ill. p. 141, figure 3.16.

Marilyn Stokstad and Michael W. Cothren, Art History, Fifth Edition: Pearson Eductation, Inc., 2014, ill. pg. 1094, figure 33-13.

Denise Alexander and Bartholomew Ryan, International Pop, Minneapolis: Walker Arts Center, 2015, 223 pp., ill. pp. 306 and 307.

John R. Stomberg, The Hood Now: Art and Inquiry at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2019, p. 171, ill. plate no. 102.

Benjamin W. Colman, et al., Detroit Style: Car Design in the Motor City, 1950-2020, Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts in association with Yale University Press, 2020, ill. pp. 6 and 141, cat. no. 15.

Christophe Cherix, Ana Torok, and Keio Aebi, eds., Ed Rusha / Now Then: A Retrospective, New York: The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2023, ill. pp. 86-87.

Provenance

Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, California; Collection of Dennis and Brooke H. Hopper, Los Angeles, California; James J. Meeker, Oakland, California; given to present collection, 1976.

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