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
Albany Monte Carlo
By Robert Bechtle
Located in Palo Alto, CA
Created in 1990, this color hard ground and soft ground etching is hand-signed by Robert Bechtle (San Francisco, 1932 - Berkeley, 2020) in pencil in the...
Woodcut
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
$48Sale Price|20% Off
H 25 in W 33.5 in
Marc Chagall 'Enlevement de Chloe (Abduction of Chloe)' 1977- Lithograph
By Marc Chagall
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Paper Size: 25 x 33.5 inches ( 63.5 x 85.09 cm ) Image Size: 20 x 30.5 inches ( 50.8 x 77.47 cm ) Framed: No Condition: A: Mint Additional Details: Limited edition print by Mar...
Lithograph
original lithograph
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: original lithograph. This lithograph is from the rare 1951 "Improvisations" portfolio, published by the Artists Equity Association of New York on the occasion of the 1951 Spr...
Lithograph
$3,800
H 6 in W 4 in
Art Card: Richard Estes - Food Shop, 1970 Hand Signed postcard provenance Framed
By Richard Estes
Located in New York, NY
Offset lithograph postcard Boldly signed in black marker by Richard Estes on the front This card depicts Estes famous 1970 oil on canvas painting "Food Shop", that had been in the co...
Postcard
$575
H 16.75 in W 23.75 in
Mosque of Ayed Bey, Suez, Egypt: Original 19th C. Lithograph by D. Roberts
By David Roberts
Located in Alamo, CA
This is an original 19th century duotone lithograph entitled "Mosque of Ayed Bey, in the Desert of Suez" by David Roberts, from his Egypt and Nubia volumes of the large folio edition...
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
$1,233
H 37.25 in W 31.25 in D 1.5 in
Les Montgolfieres, Place de la Concorde, Paris
By Fanch (Francois Ledan)
Located in San Francisco, CA
This artwork titled "Les Montgolfieres, Place de la Concorde, Paris" 1987 is a original colors lithograph on Arches paper by French artist (Fanch, Francois Ledan, born 1949) It is hand signed and numbered 67/250 in pencil by the artist. The image size is 25.25 x 19.5 inches, framed is 37.25 x 31.25 inches. Printed by Atelier d'Art Dejobert, Paris, with their blind stamp at the lower left corner. Custom framed in a wooden gold frame, with off white matting. It is in excellent condition. About the artist: Francois "Fanch" Ledan (b. 1949) is noted for colorful scenes of his native Brittany. In 1968 he abandoned his studies in commercial design for full-time studies in painting and fine art. His talent was quickly recognized and soon he was involved in major European shows. He became involved in printmaking in 1973 when he learned lithography in Paris. Since then he has had numerous one-person shows in Europe, North America and South America. His paintings and lithographs from the 1970's and 1980's display characteristics often associated with "naïve" art. His views of Paris, a city which has embraced naïve art, display the attention to detail, In the 80's he turned to more brightly colored paintings and again a connection to Impressionism. He began to work on paintings that he refers to as "interior...
Lithograph
$236
H 19.69 in W 15.75 in
Le Petit Prince En Grand Manteau - Antoine De Saint-Exupéry
Located in Sint-Truiden, BE
Color lithograph after the watercolor illustrations by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry from his beloved masterpiece "The Little Prince". This lithograph was printed and published in 2009 ...
Lithograph
Lovers at the Beach - Original handsigned lithograph
By Marcel Mouly
Located in Paris, IDF
Marcel MOULY Lovers at the beach, 1966 Original lithograph Handsigned in pencil On Rives vellum 37 x 28 cm (c. 15 x 11 inch) Excellent condition
Lithograph
$1,598
H 40 in W 30 in D 0.05 in
Original Washington D.C. American Airlines vintage travel poster Midcentury
By Edward McKnight Kauffer
Located in Spokane, WA
Original Washington (D.C.) American Airlines mid-century vintage travel poster. Professional archival linen backed in very fine condition, ready to frame. Featuring one of the ...
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
$445
H 3.15 in W 2.56 in D 0.04 in
Fire - Woodcut on Paper by Erika Lawson Frimke - 1937
By Erikma Lawson Frimke
Located in Roma, IT
Fire is an original woodcut artwork on paper realized in 1937 ca. by Russian artist Erika Lawson Frimke( 1878-1956), Hand-signed on the lower right in pencil. The state of preservat...
Woodcut
Schwarze Madonna
Located in Wien, 9
Auguste Kronheim was born in Amsterdam in 1937. The artist makes woodcuts and drawings. She received her training in drawing from Hanns Kobinger and graduated from the Linz Federal T...
Woodcut
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