Ed Ruscha

Schwab's Pharmacy (Sunset Strip Portfolio)

About this artwork

In the 1990s, Ruscha brought together many of his photographs from the 1960s and 70s into new groupings, such as the ‘Sunset Strip Portfolio’ 1967/1995, a set of six photographs including this one. This photograph was originally one of many simply documenting the length of Sunset Strip. In the 'Sunset Strip Portfolio' Ruscha has placed the focus on the now legendary places captured, such as Schwab’s Pharmacy, a famous drug store and café frequented by movie stars including Ava Gardner and Lana Turner. In Billy Wilder’s film, 'Sunset Boulevard' (1950), Schwab’s is described by the screenwriter character Joe Gillis as, ‘Kind of a combination office, coffee klatch and waiting room.’ In taking razor blades and sandpaper to the negatives Ruscha reinforces the place’s deterioration and decline; the pharmacy closed down in 1983.

Updated before 2020

see media
  • artist:
    Ed Ruscha (born 1937) American
  • title:
    Schwab's Pharmacy (Sunset Strip Portfolio)
  • date created:
    1976/95
  • materials:
    Black and white photograph from altered negative on paper
  • measurements:
    51.10 x 75.10 cm (framed: 67.00 x 91.50 x 4.50 cm)
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Lent by Artist Rooms Foundation 2011
  • accession number:
    AL00287
  • gallery:
This artwork is part of Artist Rooms
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Ed Ruscha

Ed Ruscha