Robert Bechtle is considered one of the founding Photorealists, a set of artists who used photographs as a point of departure for their hyperrealist art.
Bechtle first introduced photographs into his painting technique in 1964 as a studio aid, while painting a scene with his wife Nancy Dalton, whom he often depicted in his work. By 1966, his use of photographs had evolved into an integral component of his process.
Bechtle typically begins by selecting an image, usually his photographs or anonymous snapshots, which he then projects onto the canvas from a slide. Bechtle held a particular fascination with the snapshot, typically amateur photographs of cars, for the nature of the subject matter, its immediacy, and lack of affect. He was attracted to the subversive implications of the photo-based technique for complicating the rigid genre hierarchies he had internalized in art school. Bechtle’s interest in the everyday and the ordinary also reveals the influence of Pop art, which he saw firsthand while traveling in Britain in 1961.
Bechtle’s early Photorealist works are infused with a subtle realism, and an implicit sense of humor pervades his subjects and compositions. His best-known paintings and prints focus on familiar suburban American middle-class subjects and themes, such as the car and the house. Unlike the gestures and lyricism of Diebenkorn and other artists associated with Bay Area Figuration, Bechtle was interested in attaining a more objective approach to realism.
In 1982, Bechtle married the art historian Whitney Chadwick. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (1977, 1982, 1989); John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1985); American Academy of Arts and Letters (1995); Francis J. Greenburger Foundation (2002); and the Modern Art Council at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA, 2003).
Early notable exhibitions that helped establish Bechtle’s career include group shows at San Francisco Art Institute (1966); Vassar College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, New York (1968); and the Milwaukee Art Center (1969). He received his first solo museum exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Art (now SFMOMA, 1967). Bechtle’s work was also shown in several exhibitions and venues critical to the history of Photorealism, such as Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1970, 1973); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1971); Documenta, Kassel, West Germany (1972); Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York (1973); Samsung Museum of Modern Art, Seoul (2001); and Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin (2009). In 1991, SFMOMA held a solo exhibition of his work and later mounted a major retrospective in 2005, which traveled to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas (2005), and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (2006). He lives in San Francisco.
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Toothbrush Variant II
By Robert Bechtle
Located in San Francisco, CA
Robert Bechtle was born in 1932 in San Francisco and raised in Alameda. He studied graphic design and painting at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, earning his BF...
Lithograph
Price Upon Request
Mississippi Street Intersection
By Robert Bechtle
Located in Palo Alto, CA
Created in 2007, this color soft ground etching with aquatint on paper is hand-signed and dated by Robert Bechtle (San Francisco, 1932 - Berkeley, 2020)...
Etching, Aquatint
Price Upon Request
'63 Bel Air, from Four Chevies
By Robert Bechtle
Located in San Francisco, CA
Edition of 60 Robert Bechtle was born in 1932 in San Francisco and raised in Alameda. He studied graphic design and painting at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, earning his BFA in 1954 and MFA in 1958. He began painting seriously in the early 1960s, finding his own voice through a tightly controlled realism that was distinct from the expressionistic paint-handling characteristic of Bay Area Figurative art...
Lithograph
Price Upon Request
'61 Impala, from Four Chevies
By Robert Bechtle
Located in San Francisco, CA
Robert Bechtle was born in 1932 in San Francisco and raised in Alameda. He studied graphic design and painting at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, earning his BF...
Lithograph
Price Upon Request
'71 Caprice, from Four Chevies
By Robert Bechtle
Located in San Francisco, CA
Edition of 60 Lithograph in colors Plate: 8 1/2 x 11 inches Sheet: 13 x 17 inches Robert Bechtle was born in 1932 in San Francisco and raised in Alameda. He studied graphic des...
Lithograph
Price Upon Request
'64 Impala, from Four Chevies
By Robert Bechtle
Located in San Francisco, CA
Robert Bechtle was born in 1932 in San Francisco and raised in Alameda. He studied graphic design and painting at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, earning his ...
Lithograph
Ocean View Wind Patterns, Camden Maine
By Yvonne Jacquette
Located in Lyons, CO
Color lithograph, Edition 30. Jacquette also creates compelling images of the landscape and the sea from the air or atop hills or mountains. In this colorful print she depicts a view of the Maine...
Lithograph
$300
H 29.93 in W 22.05 in D 0.04 in
Offrandes, Lithograph, Limited Edition Numbered and Signed by the Artist
Located in Palm Desert, CA
Algerian painter Hocine Ziani was born in Algeria, lives and works in France. He is an autodidactartist. Professional painter since 1978-1993 in Algeria, 1994-2009 in France. Foundin...
Lithograph
$1,120Sale Price|20% Off
H 29.75 in W 23.75 in D 0.75 in
St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna - Hand Colored Cityscape Lithograph
By Luigi Kasimir
Located in Soquel, CA
Detailed and dramatic hand-colored etching by Luigi Kasimir (Austrian, 1881-1962). St. Stephen's cathedral towers above the streets of Vienna, with people going about their daily bus...
Paper, Watercolor, Lithograph
$1,085
H 17 in W 13 in
The Gates (c), from the Project for Central Park
By Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Located in New York, NY
This offset lithograph in colors from the Project for Central Park, New York City, was created by the artist in 2004. One of 300 hand-signed by the artist in pencil from an unnumbere...
Lithograph
“Straight Wharf Nantucket”
Located in Southampton, NY
Original off set lithograph in black and white with hand colored tinting by the artist. Artist signed, titled and numbered by the artist 47/250. Condition is excellent. Under glass...
Archival Paper, Lithograph
$3,418
H 11.82 in W 7.88 in D 0.4 in
Starry Night - Limited Edition, Figurative, Contemporary, Star, Night, Child
By Charlie Mackesy
Located in Knowle Lane, Cranleigh
Starry Night is a lithograph based on a watercolour by Charlie Mackesy. The edition is limited to 150 and each piece has been signed by Charlie Mackesy...
Lithograph
Flores para la Ñusta II
By Ana Maria Hernando
Located in Lyons, CO
Color lithograph with cut outs, Edition 30. Flores para la Ñusta translates as "Flowers for the Ñusta". The artist states: "In the Andean cosmology, the Ñusta is the feminine ...
Lithograph
$2,082Sale Price|30% Off
H 26.75 in W 119.25 in
Clemente Untitled B: surreal mythical landscape, voyage with ocean, Venus, snake
By Francesco Clemente
Located in New York, NY
A black and white, large-scale surreal mythical landscape of an ocean voyage, with a snake wrapped around a clock, a ship, Venus sculpture, greek urns, and snakes, printed in black o...
Lithograph
$1,367
H 21.86 in W 17.33 in D 1.19 in
L'inspiré Self Portrait Marc Chagall Valentina Vava Lithograph 1963 Mourlot 398
By Marc Chagall
Located in Eversholt, Bedfordshire
Inspiration or L'inspiré - The artist and his wife, self-portrait. This is a self-portrait of the great artist, depicting him as lost in thought before one of his paintings, which is apparently related to his home country Russia, as suggested by the small figure in the lower right of the work. Chagall’s wife Valentina (“Vava”), who was also from Russia, is looking over his shoulder, full of longing. The small surreal elements that are characteristic of Chagall’s paintings are also present here: the silhouettes of the houses that seems to stick out of the painting and a figure with a flute or trombone standing on its head. Chagall Lithographe, Volume II of the catalogue raisonné of Chagall's lithographic work, see Mourlot 398, 1957-1962, Paris 1963, imprinted by Imprimerie Mourlot for the publisher André Sauret. A lithographic plate from the catalog that was published in 10,000 copies. Condition : Excellent Set inside a cream mount bearing brass cartellino Visible sheet size length 23cm, Height 31.50cm In a carved and gilded frame Frame size Length 44cm, Height 55.5cm The reverse with a paper label in Japanese Provenance : Private Collection, purchased with Lovers in Grey
Lithograph
$1,186
H 17.72 in W 23.63 in
RENÉ MAGRITTE - LA RECONNAISSANCE INFINIE Limited edition Lithograph. Surrealism
By (after) René Magritte
Located in Madrid, Madrid
LA RECONNAISSANCE INFINIE (THE INFINITE RECOGNITION, 1963) Date of creation: 2010 Medium: Lithograph on BFK Rives Paper Edition number: 147/275 Size: 60 x 45 cm Observations: Lithogr...
Lithograph
$20,508
H 25.5 in W 20 in D 2 in
Hand of Africa - Mandela, Former South African President, Signed Artwork, Hand
By Nelson Mandela
Located in Knowle Lane, Cranleigh
Nelson Mandela, Hand of Africa, Signed Limited Edition Lithograph Many people are unaware that Nelson Mandela turned his hand to art in his 80's as a way of leaving a legacy for his ...
Lithograph
The Gates (e), Project for Central Park
By Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Located in New York, NY
This offset lithograph in colors on wove paper from the Project for Central Park, New York City, was created by the artist in 2005. One of 300 hand-signed (in pencil) prints from an ...
Lithograph
Sold
H 13 in W 16.75 in
'68 Oldsmobile Iconic mid century modern photorealist lithograph photo realist
By Robert Bechtle
Located in New York, NY
Robert Bechtle '68 Oldsmobile, 1969 Color lithograph on wove paper. Unframed, with original label from the 1971 San Francisco Art Institute Centennial E...
Lithograph, Pencil
Sold
H 18.75 in W 20.5 in
Robert Bechtle 'House near Stinson Beach' Signed Limited Edition Print
By Robert Bechtle
Located in San Rafael, CA
Robert Bechtle (American, b. 1932) House Near Stinson Beach, 1998. Color soft-ground etching with spit-bite aquatint, 1998. Signed, dated and numbered ...
Aquatint
Sold
H 26 in W 26.25 in
Robert Bechtle 'Albany Monte Carlo' Signed Limited Edition Print
By Robert Bechtle
Located in San Rafael, CA
Robert Bechtle (American, b. 1932) Albany Monte Carlo, 1990 Color woodcut on silk mounted on rag paper, 1990. Signed and numbered in pencil. Edition 3...
Woodcut
House Near Stinson Beach
By Robert Bechtle
Located in New York, NY
Color soft ground etching with spit bite aquatint Signed, dated, and numbered in pencil, recto Also titled in pencil, verso This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. Robert...
Etching, Aquatint
63 Bel Air
By Robert Bechtle
Located in San Francisco, CA
Robert Bechtle was born in 1932 in San Francisco and raised in Alameda. He studied graphic design and painting at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, earning his BF...
Lithograph