Sale: 560 / Evening Sale, Dec. 06. 2024 in Munich Lot 56


56
Edward "Ed" Ruscha
Miracle #69, 1975.
Pastel on firm paper
Post auction sale: € 180,000 / $ 198,000
+
Miracle #69. 1975.
Pastel on firm paper.
Signed and dated on the reverse, as well as inscribed “69 Really Spritual” by a hand other than that of the artist and with a direction arrow. 98 x 75.3 cm (38.5 x 29.6 in), the full sheet. [JS].

• With an oeuvre positioned between Pop Art and Conceptual Art, Ruscha is considered one of the most influential figures in American post-war art.
• Just as with the famous painting “Large Trademark with Eight Spotlights” (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York), Ed Ruscha also expresses his fascination with Hollywood in “Miracle #69.”
• Ruscha stages the spherical light effects of the cinema in the deep black of the room.
• The comparable pastel “Miracle #64”, which belongs to the collection of the Tate Modern, London, was included in the major retrospective “ED RUSCHA /NOW THEN” at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 2023/24
.

PROVENANCE: Texas Gallery, Houston.
Private collection, Japan (until 2022).
Private collection, Hesse (since 2022).

EXHIBITION: Various Miracles, Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, November 25 - December 24, 1975.

LITERATURE: Lisy Turvey (ed.), Edward Ruscha. Catalogue raisonné of the works on paper, New Haven / London 2014, vol. I, no. D1975.69.
"`Hollywood dreams'- I mean, think about it. Close your eyes and what does it mean, visually? It means a ray of light, actually, rather than a sucess story."
Ed Ruscha, quoted from: www.tate.org.uk

"When it comes to the protagonists of US art after Abstract Expressionism, Ed Ruscha still needs to be mentioned more often. Now, MoMA hosts a retrospective in honor of the Californian artist."
Sebastian Moll, Monopol magazine, September 18, 2023.

The innovative, creative work of the US artist Ed Ruscha encompasses more than six decades. His importance as one of the key figures of American post-war art was recognized with the major retrospective “ED RUSCHA/NOW THEN” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York earlier this year. For paintings inspired mainly by the urban landscape of his adopted home, Los Angeles, Ruscha became one of the most influential artists of his generation. Commonplace subjects such as advertising and film decisively shaped his work and established a connection to Pop Art in terms of content and form. At the same time, Ruscha's playful use of letters stands in the tradition of Dada and draws on elements of Conceptual Art. Since 1956, Ruscha has called Los Angeles, the capital of the American film industry, his home. From then on, the city's characteristic visual influences would shape Ruscha's artistic work. As early as 1962, he created his legendary painting “Large Trademark with Eight Spotlights”, which shows the logo of the the film production company Twentieth Century Studios shining brightly in the dark. Today, the work is part of the Whitney Museum of American Art collection in New York. As is the case with the celebrated 'Hollywood Paintings', which he started to make in the late 1960s, and which also show the legendary Hollywood logo from different perspectives in front of a bright red sky (such as 'Hollywood Study' from 1968, Museum of Modern Art, New York), Ruscha has always been concerned with the depiction of extreme light phenomena, which are characteristic of the film industry's self-conception. Alongside these legendary logos, the practices of filmmaking and screening in movie theaters have repeatedly inspired the artist. In “Miracle #69,” a bright, multifaceted beam of light, like a divine miracle, illuminates the deep black space. The ray of light from the projector that illuminates the movie theater ushers at the moment when reality and fiction collide when the audience is pulled out of their existence and plunged into another world. Like the scenes of the Annunciation in medieval art, the bright beam of light heralds the supernatural and allows it to flash through the darkness of our everyday lives. “Miracle #69” was created in 1975 as part of a series of works with about ten other pastels with related motifs. Today, most of these are in American private collections, and in 2018, one was acquired for the Tate collection, and recently featured on loan in the significant Ruscha retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. [JS]



56
Edward "Ed" Ruscha
Miracle #69, 1975.
Pastel on firm paper
Post auction sale: € 180,000 / $ 198,000
+


Buyer's premium, taxation and resale right compensation for Edward "Ed" Ruscha "Miracle #69"
This lot can be purchased subject to differential or regular taxation, artist‘s resale right compensation is due.

Differential taxation:
Hammer price up to 800,000 €: herefrom 32 % premium.
The share of the hammer price exceeding 800,000 € is subject to a premium of 27 % and is added to the premium of the share of the hammer price up to 800,000 €.
The share of the hammer price exceeding 4,000,000 € is subject to a premium of 22 % and is added to the premium of the share of the hammer price up to 4,000,000 €.
The buyer's premium contains VAT, however, it is not shown.

Regular taxation:
Hammer price up to 800,000 €: herefrom 27 % premium.
The share of the hammer price exceeding 800,000 € is subject to a premium of 21% and is added to the premium of the share of the hammer price up to 800,000 €.
The share of the hammer price exceeding 4,000,000 € is subject to a premium of 15% and is added to the premium of the share of the hammer price up to 4,000,000 €.
The statutory VAT of currently 19 % is levied to the sum of hammer price and premium. As an exception, the reduced VAT of 7 % is added for printed books.

We kindly ask you to notify us before invoicing if you wish to be subject to regular taxation.

Calculation of artist‘s resale right compensation:
For works by living artists, or by artists who died less than 70 years ago, a artist‘s resale right compensation is levied in accordance with Section 26 UrhG:
4 % of hammer price from 400.00 euros up to 50,000 euros,
another 3 % of the hammer price from 50,000.01 to 200,000 euros,
another 1 % for the part of the sales proceeds from 200,000.01 to 350,000 euros,
another 0.5 % for the part of the sale proceeds from 350,000.01 to 500,000 euros and
another 0.25 % of the hammer price over 500,000 euros.
The maximum total of the resale right fee is EUR 12,500.

The artist‘s resale right compensation is VAT-exempt.