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Oxydol

A work made of gelatin silver print, from "products".
© 1960 Ed Ruscha.

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  • A work made of gelatin silver print, from "products".

Date:

1960

Artist:

Ed Ruscha
American, born 1937

About this artwork

Following his graduation from art school in 1960, where he studied painting, Ed Ruscha worked as a commercial layout artist. He took up photography early, producing images of signage and commercial products that point toward the photobooks and signature compositions he made on paper and canvas throughout the 1960s and ’70s. Oxydol is part of a group of images of common consumer goods that Ruscha claims to have randomly selected in his studio, without regard to aesthetic or emotional significance. Each object was photographed isolated and centered on a white background, a setup derived from advertising imagery. He later described his approach: “If you look at a product that is easily overlooked or not meant to have any real importance, you can focus on it to the point where you give it importance. That’s what those product pictures were like.”

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Photography and Media

Artist

Ed Ruscha

Title

Oxydol

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1960

Medium

Gelatin silver print, from "Products"

Dimensions

Image/paper: 17.7 × 12.7 cm (7 × 5 in.)

Credit Line

Purchased with funds provided by Bradford L. Ballast and David Hallett Hill

Reference Number

2012.115

Copyright

© 1960 Ed Ruscha.

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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