Edward Ruscha
American, born 1937
Well,, 1971
Gift of Sandra and Peter Butler 95.106.3
© Ed Ruscha

Wordscapes: Text as Image in Contemporary Art

Saturday, September 12, 2009—Sunday, March 14, 2010
Gallery 263
Free Exhibition

This exhibition examines the conceptual, functional, and pictorial interrelationships of text and image in contemporary graphic art from 1960 to the present.

Throughout much of the twentieth century, visual artists have used language--letters, numbers, words, and text--as both compositional and ideographic devices. Beginning in the 1960s, when experimental art of many types flourished, an increasing number of artists began to explore the expressive potential of text, language, and linguistic structure, with often amazing results.

Drawn primarily from the MIA's permanent collection, this selection of works features original prints, drawings, multiples, and a small number of paintings by artists such as Jasper Johns, Bruce Nauman, Ed Ruscha, Roy Lichtenstein, Emmett Williams, Robert Indiana, Cy Twombly, John Baldessari, Robert Rauschenberg, May Stevens, Lesley Dill, Glenn Ligon, Tom Phillips, Suzanne McClelland, and Fred Wilson.