Picture palace delights 5/5

A wonderful chunky book of 512 movie houses, in color, that Benita VanWinkle has been photographing for years. She and her husband Phil have scoured the land, not forgetting Alaska and Hawaii, to find and capture the disappearing small-town picture palaces. These are photos of record, so nothing arty here; mostly taken head-on to show the architectural style, but nicely to break up the pages, there are plenty of photos showing interiors and close-ups of the box office and marquees.

I thought the head-on shots of the complete exteriors worked really well and I enjoyed turning the pages and coming across a lovely 1930s moderne theatre in some town that probably had a Greyhound streamline bus terminal designed by Bill Arrasmith. The book is a lot more than just color photos because VanWinkle provides a basic caption of when the place opened, who designed it and its seating capacity; the Louisville Palace Theatre opened in 1928 and could seat an impressive 3273. Also included are a lot of fascinating background details about each building.

Wait, there's more! Fifty-three pages of drive-in theatres and seventeen pages about local community groups who are renovating disused theatres. The back pages include an index of theatre names and their location (State seems very popular; sixteen are photographed) an index of theatres by state and finally an index of architects, engineers and interior designers.

In over six hundred pages, Benita VanWinkle has provided a stunning celebration of hometown movie theatres. I doubt anything better will come along in the future.

US

America's Hometown Movie Theaters: Please Remain Standing: VanWinkle, Benita: 9781735600147: Amazon.com: Books

Ed Ruscha: a comprehensive look 5/5

Steidl published, in 2009, a catalogue raisonne of Ed Ruscha and this latest three-book box set brings his creativity up to date. All of his work from 1960 to 2022 is revealed with 1944 images in color on 864 pages.

Book one has two worthwhile illustrated essays. Art curator Siri Engberg (she edited a catalogue raisonne of Ruscha's work for the Walker Art Center in 1999) writes about the way he explored creativity in relation to his life in Los Angeles. Several of his small books, from the sixties, feature parking lots, apartments, swimming pools, real estate, palm trees et cetera and in larger publications, LA's street commonplace. Ruscha's work experience in the Carson/Roberts ad agency inspired him to use the vernacular of commercialism with his print output (hundreds of these are shown in book three).  

Book two is an expanded version of the Siri Engberg's Walker Art Center edition and I particularly like this book because it has every page of twenty-two of Ruscha's books plus two of his fore-edge designs. These he called 'sculptural objects,' where an image is revealed when the pages of a very thick book are fanned out either left or right; both were published in editions of 230. Now I can see the forty-eight pages of 'Various small fires and milk' (1964) the glass is on page thirty-nine or 'Babycakes' (1970) with the pages held together with a pink ribbon. There are two versions of Ruscha's street commonplace: 'Every building on Sunset Strip' (1966) published as an accordion-printed edition 299 inches long when fully opened. 'Then & now' (2005) combined every building on Hollywood Boulevard photographed in 1973 and 2004. This book was published by Steidl and is still available (ISBN  3865211054). I have a copy and it's the nearest I'll get to actually owning something by the artist.

Book three is the real catalogue of Ruscha's art. Starting with a seven-edition print of his mother from 1960 to 'Voice mail white' a thirty-print edition from 2022. The majority of the images are prints but it also includes all the pages from his books and some three-dimensional work. Each item includes comprehensive technical information and a commentary on the art. Some of these I found quite fascinating; for example, the 1971 'Fruit-Metrecal Hollywood' was printed using a variety of jams, 'Evil' (1973) prints were scented with Gres perfume, 'Zoot suit' (2015) had the letters die-cut out of paper using the Ruscha-designed typeface: Boy Scout Utility Modern, it has no curves. At the back of this book and Book Two there are several pages with photos of Ruscha working with his printers.

I think Steidl deserves congratulations for producing three books that comprehensively detail the work of this leading contemporary artist.

UK

Edward Ruscha: Catalogue Raisonne of the Books, Prints, and Photographic Editions, 1960-2022 : Engberg, Siri, Joseph Logan Design: Amazon.co.uk: Books

US

Edward Ruscha: Catalogue Raisonné of the Books, Prints, and Photographic Editions: 1960–2022: Engberg, Siri, Ruscha, Edward, Ruscha, Edward: 9783969992265: Amazon.com: Books