Few things are more indicative of American culture than pop art and a rural gas station. When you combine these elements, you get Ed Ruscha’s iconic West Coast art piece Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half. It depicts a Standard Oil gas station in the American West emblazoned in front of a wide blue rural sky.
The painting is being offered by Christie’s New York for their 20th Century Evening Sale on 19 November and while its true estimate is only available by request, it is slated to be in excess of US$50 million. This puts the lot in record-breaking territory, as its estimate is close to the most expensive Ed Ruscha painting ever sold at auction, Hurting the Word Radio #2 (1964).
This Standard Station is part of a group of paintings Ruscha made during the 1960s that depicted his view of the classic rural American road trip, with other works in the collection also being famed for their depictions of the humble gas station.
Lot 26 A | Ed Ruscha (b. 1937) | Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half
Painted in 1964
165.1 x 308.6 cm
Provenance:
- Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles
- Mr. and Mrs. Donald Factor, Los Angeles
- James J. Meeker, Fort Worth, December 1970
- Acquired by the exchange of Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas with the above by the present owner, November 1976
Estimate: Estimate on request (in excess of US$50 million)
Auction House: Christie’s New York
Sale: 20th Century Evening Sale
Date: 19 November 2024
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1937, Ruscha’s childhood in rural America would become a key component in his future career in art. Originally working as a newspaper cartoonist, he gradually shifted to painting in the 1960s, inspired by Jasper John. He spent the early 1960s gaining inspiration and experience in the industry, having been impacted by minimalists, abstract painters, and graphic artists. Perhaps his greatest influence was Edward Hopper’s Gas (1940), a realist painting of a rural gas station.
This emphasis on rural America and American culture, in general, became emphasized when he moved to Southern California and began painting iconic works that depicted American symbols such as Large Trademark with Eight Spotlights (1962), a painting of the 20th Century Fox logo, and Wonder Bread (1962), a work of the iconic American Sliced Bread.
The first Standard Station painting was unveiled in 1963, and various variants followed throughout the rest of the decade. This includes this lot’s sister painting, Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas, painted in 1963 and exhibited in the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
As for Ruscha’s inspiration for the gas station, he stated, “I don’t have any River Seine like Monet; I’ve just got U.S. 66 between Oklahoma and Los Angeles.” The historic highway from Chicago to Los Angeles was a core part of Ruscha’s life, as he often went on road trips imagining the expansive American West as his own movie he made up as he drove along the vast rural stretches, incorporating these elements into his artwork.
Variants of the Standard Station painting, including this lot’s sister painting Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas in the top right corner
Edward Ruscha | Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas, 1962 | Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
The painting was first put on display at Ruscha’s gallery show at Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles. At the time, Los Angeles was developing as a west-coast rival to the more prominent and prestigious New York art scene. Visitors to the gallery would have been greeted by this current lot’s sister painting Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas, when they walked in through the front door.
This lot was then acquired by couple Donald and Lynn Factor, who hung the painting in their modern LA home’s living room. The paintings were acquired by James J. Meeker, who then exchanged Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half for its sister painting Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas, with Sid R. Bass, who acquired the former in 1976.
The heir to an oil fortune Bass is known for his major investment in Disney. With a net worth of US$3 billion, he is considered the 359th richest person in America and often engages in philanthropy. From there, Bass loaned the painting as part of the critically acclaimed “Ed Ruscha / Now Then” traveling exhibit that displayed works from the artist’s career spanning from 1958 to 2022. This includes its recent display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York from September 2023 to January 2024.
As stated previously, the estimate for this lot puts it in a position where it could possibly surpass Ruscha’s highest-ever selling lot at auction, Hurting the Word Radio #2 (1964). Sold in 2019 by Christie’s New York for around US$52.4 million, Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half seems poised to seize that tile for itself.
Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half being displayed in the living room of the Factors in 1967
Edward Ruscha | Hurting the Word Radio #2, 1964 | Sold for around US$52.4 million by Christie’s New York, 2019