About this artwork
Against the cool rich blue field, Edward Ruscha’s overlapping ellipses resemble a bright white halo. The drawing was initially inspired by the circular space of a rotunda in a public library, for which the artist was commissioned to produce a mural. The mural was to contain a quotation from Hamlet-“Words without thoughts never to heaven go”-a reference that explains the double rings’ celestial resonance. In the process of exploring the rotunda’s shape on paper, Ruscha transformed it into a cup-and-saucer, an empty dog bowl, and the present small dish.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Prints and Drawings
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Artist
- Ed Ruscha
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Title
- Smaller Dish
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Place
- United States (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- Made 1985
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Medium
- Dry-pigment on paper
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Dimensions
- Sight: 101.6 × 152.4 cm (40 × 60 in.)
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Credit Line
- Gift of Lannan Foundation
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Reference Number
- 1997.118