Harvard Art Museums > 2000.240: Highland, Franklin, Yucca Paintings Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Highland, Franklin, Yucca (Edward Ruscha) , 2000.240,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Nov 12, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/186819. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Gallery Text When Ruscha moved to Los Angeles in 1956 to study commercial design at the Chouinard Art Institute, he was drawn to the proliferation of visual and textual information in the urban landscape. He began to examine language, pop culture, and Hollywood’s distinctive streets and architecture, notably in his 1960s photography books, prints, and paintings. Highland, Franklin, Yucca builds on this earlier work. Here Ruscha derived the textual diagram from Hollywood’s street grid, while he copied the landscape from a book on the Himalayas. As Ruscha has suggested, the mountains also evoke the snowcapped peak of the Paramount Pictures film studio logo. The smoky beige cloud, however, interferes with the legibility crucial for commercial logos. Unlike commercial design, Ruscha’s painting confuses rather than communicating a clear message. Its conflicting modes of visual presentation mimic the experience of processing disjunctive information in the contemporary urban world. Identification and Creation Object Number 2000.240 People Edward Ruscha, American (Omaha, NE born 1937) Title Highland, Franklin, Yucca Classification Paintings Work Type painting Date 1999 Culture American Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/186819 Physical Descriptions Medium Acrylic on canvas Dimensions 152.4 x 154.9 cm (60 x 61 in.) Inscriptions and Marks inscription: On verso, in graphite: Ed Ruscha 1999 label: On verso, affixed to stretcher: HIGHLAND, FRANKLIN, YUKKA // ACRYLIC ON CANVAS // 60 X 60" (152.7 x 152.7 cm.) // EDWARD RUSCHA 1999 CODE #P.99.30 Provenance Recorded Ownership History [Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, California], sold; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2000. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Purchase through the generosity of Laura-Lee W. Woods, an anonymous donor, the Broad Art Foundation, Fifth Floor Foundation, The Charles Engelhard Foundation, Catherine and Paul Buttenwieser Foundation, Bruce A. Beal, and William Danoff Copyright © Ed Ruscha Accession Year 2000 Object Number 2000.240 Division Modern and Contemporary Art Contact am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Publication History Richard D. Marshall, Edward Ruscha: Made in Los Angeles, exh. cat., p. 196 Richard D. Marshall, Ed Ruscha, Phaidon Press Limited (London and New York, 2003), repr. p. 249 (color) Stephan Wolohojian and Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Harvard Art Museum/ Handbook, ed. Stephan Wolohojian, Harvard Art Museum (Cambridge, 2008), p. 252, ill. Exhibition History Landmark Pictures: Ed Ruscha/Andreas Gursky, Harvard University Art Museums, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 01/08/2000 - 03/19/2000 Looking at America, Yale University Art Gallery, 04/23/2002 - 07/28/2002 Recent work of Ed Ruscha, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, 02/13/2004 - 04/11/2004 Contemporary Art from the Harvard University Art Museums Collections, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 06/23/2007 - 01/31/2008 32Q: 1100 60’s Experiment, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 04/10/2018 Subjects and Contexts Collection Highlights Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu