Acrylic paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
ARTIST ROOMS
National Heritage Memorial Fund
Art Fund
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/edward-ruscha-1882" aria-label="More by Edward Ruscha" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Edward Ruscha</a>
Final End
ARTIST ROOMS
Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
abstraction
grass
inscriptions
non-representational
phrase
plants and flowers
symbols and personifications
text
<p>Here the phrase ‘The End’, in a black gothic-style typeface, occupies the centre of the picture like it would in the final frame of an old Hollywood movie. The format of the canvas echoes the proportions of a cinema screen. This association is reinforced by the grey background and thin vertical streaks that suggest marks on old film stock. However, long, thin, pale yellow grasses sprout from an invisible ground in front of the words, obscuring them from view. <span>The Final End</span> demonstrates Ruscha’s interest in the histories of visual culture and graphic design. The work and its title may express sadness about the passing away of certain beloved aspects of popular culture.</p><p><em>Gallery label, July 2019</em></p>
painting acrylic paint canvas
21 March 2009 – 13 June 2010
2010-06-13
21 March 2009 – 13 June 2010
2010-06-13
2009-03-21
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2009-03-21
Edward Ruscha
Collection based display
28 May 2011 – 29 October 2011
2011-10-29
28 May 2011 – 29 October 2011
2011-10-29
2011-05-28
Wolverhampton Art Gallery (Wolverhampton, UK)
http://www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk
2011-05-28
ARTIST ROOMS 2011: Ed Ruscha
Loan-out
30 June 2012 – 23 September 2012
2012-09-23
30 June 2012 – 23 September 2012
2012-09-23
2012-06-30
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery (Bristol, UK)
http://www.bristol-city.gov.uk
2012-06-30
ARTIST ROOMS 2012: Raw Materials: Four American Artists, 1972-2007
Loan-out
22 February 2013 – 22 May 2013
2013-05-22
22 February 2013 – 22 May 2013
2013-05-22
2013-02-22
Hatton Gallery (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)
2013-02-22
ARTIST ROOMS 2013: Ed Ruscha
Loan-out
29 April 2017 – 29 April 2018
2018-04-29
29 April 2017 – 29 April 2018
2018-04-29
2017-04-29
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Edinburgh, UK)
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/
2017-04-29
ARTIST ROOMS Ed Ruscha
Collection based display
22 July 2019 – 18 July 2021
2021-07-18
22 July 2019 – 18 July 2021
2021-07-18
2019-07-22
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2019-07-22
AR Ed Ruscha
Collection based display
The Final End
support: 1780 × 3507 × 40 mm
<a href="/search?gid=999999788" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">ARTIST ROOMS</a>
Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the <a href="/search?gid=999999967" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">National Heritage Memorial Fund</a> and the <a href="/search?gid=999999968" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Art Fund</a> 2008
<div class="text">
<p>
<i>The Final End </i>belongs to a series of works by Ruscha that incorporates the phrase ‘The End’, the earliest of which dates from the early 1980s. The large, horizontally-oriented canvas used for this work evokes the proportions of a cinema screen, an association strengthened by the mottled, grey background and thin vertical streaks that call to mind the grain and patina of old film stock. The phrase ‘The End’, in a black gothic-style typeface, occupies the centre of the picture like it would in the final frame of a traditional Hollywood movie. However, long, thin, pale yellow grasses sprout from an invisible ground directly in front of the two words, partially obscuring them from view. Ruscha incorporated very similar grasses into an earlier painting also in ARTIST ROOMS,<i> The Music from the Balconies </i>1984 (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ruscha-the-music-from-the-balconies-ar01126" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR01126</span></a>), which depicts a grassland scene with overlaid text lifted from author J.G. Ballard’s 1975 novel <i>High-Rise,</i> in Ruscha’s own font, ‘Boy Scout Utility Modern’. The somewhat tautological title, <i>The Final End</i>, implies that this is the final work in the series, an inference subsequently rendered problematic by later works such as <i>THE END #40</i> 2003 (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ruscha-the-end-40-ar00064" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00064</span></a>),<i> </i>produced more than a decade after this one. </p>
<p>The canvas was prepared by masking off the thin vertical lines before the grey acrylic paint was applied using a spray gun. The letters were delineated with the use of stencils and masking tape while the paint used for the grasses was dripped onto the canvas. A layer of gloss was applied after the all the masking was removed.</p>
<p>The juxtaposition of text with natural vegetation in <i>The Final End</i> relates to other works by Ruscha, including <i>The Music from the Balconies</i>. Taken on its own, however, the gothic lettering has more in common with an earlier printed work, <i>News, Mews, Pews, Brews, Stews &amp; Dues</i> 1970 (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ruscha-news-mews-pews-brews-stews-dues-p20295" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P20295</span></a>), which uses a similar typeface. Art historian Yve-Alain Bois has suggested that this typeface connotes a ‘vague notion of Englishness’ (Bois 2005, p.63). </p>
<p>
<i>The Final End </i>demonstrates Ruscha’s interest in the histories of visual culture and graphic design, and in excavating the linguistic and visual tropes that characterise popular culture. As the artist has explained: ‘I have always operated on a kind of waste-retrieval method … I retrieve and renew things that have been forgotten or wasted.’ (Schwartz 2004, p.251.) The melancholic imagery in this painting – from the mournful title phrase to the sombre colours and gothic lettering – thus could be related to Ruscha’s interest in forgotten material. Even the reeds and rushes call to mind the vegetation that often consumes ancient ruins, adding to a sense of erasure and loss.</p>
<p>
<b>Further reading</b>
<br/>Alexandra Schwartz (ed.), <i>Leave Any Information at the Signal: Writings, Interviews, Bits, Pages</i>, Cambridge, Massachusetts 2004.<br/>Yve-Alain Bois. ‘Thermometers Should Last Forever’, <i>October</i>, vol.111, Winter 2005, pp.60–80.<br/>Mary Richards, <i>Ed Ruscha</i>,<i> </i>Singapore 2008.</p>
<p>Luke Healey<br/>January 2012</p>
</div>

Summary
2012-06-22T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<div class="text">
<p>Here the phrase ‘The End’, in a black gothic-style typeface, occupies the centre of the picture like it would in the final frame of an old Hollywood movie. The format of the canvas echoes the proportions of a cinema screen. This association is reinforced by the grey background and thin vertical streaks that suggest marks on old film stock. However, long, thin, pale yellow grasses sprout from an invisible ground in front of the words, obscuring them from view. <i>The Final End</i> demonstrates Ruscha’s interest in the histories of visual culture and graphic design. The work and its title may express sadness about the passing away of certain beloved aspects of popular culture.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2019-07-26T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
abstraction grass inscriptions non-representational phrase plants and flowers symbols and personifications text