Edward Ruscha, widely regarded as one of the most important artists of our time.
Since the early 1960s, American artist Edward Ruscha has been viewed as one of the most influential pioneers of Pop Art, and as a key artist in the revolutionary movement. Known for his bold, deadpan works that combine images and words to explore American culture and consumerism, Ruscha is now seen as one of the leading artists of the past century.
This is reflected in the prices Ruscha’s work fetches at auction; his paintings reach tens of millions of pounds (the most expensive having been sold in 2019 for £35.8 million). His prints, meanwhile, account for 68% of his work sold at auction, and they tend to reach between £1,000 and £5,000, though a significant proportion fetch up to £50,000.
Below is a list of Edward Ruscha’s five most expensive prints sold at auction. If you own an Edward Ruscha print and want to know more about how much it might be worth, or how to sell it, contact Mark Littler today.
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Standard Station
In 1963, Ed Ruscha published the first of the artist’s books he would later become known for. It was titled Twentysix Gasoline Stations, and it included a series of photographs the artist had taken during his many drives along Route 66 to visit his family; in Ruscha’s own words, “I don’t have any Seine River like Monet. I just have U.S. 66 between Oklahoma and Los Angeles.”
This appreciation for the ordinary and the familiar is part of what makes Ruscha’s work so special. The same year as Twentysix Gasoline Stations was published, Ruscha also created a painting called Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas, which was based on one of the photographs from the book. Over the next few years, he continued to explore this emblematic symbol of the American landscape in a series of screenprints using varying colours, and the image remains among his most sought-after more than half a century later. This particular 1966 print was sold by Christie’s in October 2022 for £379,581, setting a new record for the artist.
Standard Station sold by Christie’s in 2022
Double Standard
Ruscha once said “I felt when I got going on the books that it was really the red meat of my work. It was the choice bit. Although I was painting pictures at that time, I felt the books were more advanced as a concept than the individual paintings.” It’s therefore no surprise that Ruscha’s second most expensive print sold at auction is another variation on the gasoline stations he first elevated in his artist’s book.
The 1969 print was sold by Christie’s in September 2019 for £256,224; the clean lines and bold, flat colours echo Ruscha’s time spent working in advertising agencies, whilst the soft, graded colours in the sky were achieved using the innovative ‘split fountain’ technique. This involved combining differently-coloured inks, and it had previously tended to be used only in commercial printing rather than fine art.
Double Standard sold by Christie’s in 2019
Hollywood
Edward Ruscha was born in Omaha, Nebraska, but then he and his family moved to Oklahoma City. The young Ruscha subsequently moved to Los Angeles to study art in 1956, and his new environment left an indelible mark on him; the artist later recalled being struck by the “swank mentality” of California, saying, “they had hot-rod culture here, they had palm trees, they had blond beach bunnies in the sand. All of that added up to a possibly attractive future.”
Ruscha has, in fact, spent most of his life in California, the sunshine state which “just threw romance in my face.” One way or another, it infiltrates almost all of his work, including this unique lithograph in colours from 1969, which more than tripled its estimate when it was sold by Christie’s in May 2023 for £176,671.
Hollywood sold by Christie’s in 2023
Hollywood
The impact of Los Angeles – and California more generally – on Edward Ruscha cannot be underestimated; the fact that the Hollywood sign provides such inspiration to him is proof itself. This screenprint was made in 1968, and though it shares many similarities with the lithograph made one year later, there are subtle differences between them.
As with much of his work, Ruscha experimented with different colour combinations and gradations in his Hollywood prints, resulting in some stunning representations of sunsets, all of which are highly sought-after in today’s market. This version with a fiery-orange sky was sold by Bonhams in September 2021 for £118,279.
Hollywood sold by Bonham’s in 2021
The End
Always keen to explore new techniques, this set of four holographic prints bring a new dimension to Ruscha’s combination of images and words, and they were sold by Phillips in October 2024 for £84,878. The simple phrase in Gothic script recalls the closing credits at the end of a film, whilst the damaged-looking, scratchy celluloid backgrounds hint at the reality lying beneath the glitzy Hollywood surface. As the artist said, “What motivated me was memories of the cinema. Watching movies and watching scratches on the film… Movie producers want to keep those scratches out of there. But I like them for what they are.”
The End sold by Phillip’s in 2024
