America Her Best Product
Date1975
Mediumlithograph on paper
DimensionsImage: 31 3/8 × 23 1/2 inches (79.7 × 59.7 cm)
Sheet: 31 3/8 × 23 1/2 inches (79.7 × 59.7 cm)
Matted: 32 × 40 inches (81.3 × 101.6 cm)
Portfolio/SeriesKent Bicentennial portfolio, "Spirit of Independence"
Credit LineGift of Lorillard, a Division of Loew’s Theatres, Inc.
Object number1977.23
Copyright© Ed Ruscha.
The images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextA major player in the West Coast Pop Art movement of the 1960s, Ed Ruscha spent several of his early artistic years working in commercial art, for advertising agencies and magazines, before deciding to make his career in fine art. The written word and commercial processes would continue to strongly impact Ruscha’s work. He is best known for his “word paintings,” which are composed of words or brief phrases, often rendered to appear three-dimensional.
'America Her Best Product' is part of the Kent Bicentennial portfolio: Spirit of Independence, published in 1975 by Lorillard, A Division of Loews Theatres, Inc. and the same producers as Kent cigarettes, in order to “help illuminate the American experience as a contemporary expression of the meaning of our country’s independence.” Participating artists responded to the question: What does Independence mean to me? In Ruscha’s case, America built herself on her own, as a commercially successful product.
