Twentysix Gasoline Stations was the first in a series of seminal artist books by Ed Ruscha. The present lot is a portfolio comprised of 10 of the 26 images included in the original book.

Ruschaʼs Gasoline Stations draws upon a history of American photography from Walker Evans to Robert Frank, both of whom documented everyday American life in the mid-20th century. Unlike Evans and Frank, who found their subject matter in distant parts of the United States, Ruscha stuck to the familiar. He started this project when he decided on the title, and only then did he begin to photograph the gas stations. At a time when the automobile signaled affluence and freedom, Ruscha by chance through a journey from his hometown of Oklahoma City to college in California created the American dream of going west via recording the pit-stops that lined the now iconic Route 66. Gasoline Stations exploits the banality of the content to celebrate the rich associations of car and highway culture during the second half of the 20th century. Unintentionally, he created a series of ready-mades that hinted at his later trade-mark linguistic cleptamania and provide a sense of quiet patriotism.