# Robert Bechtle

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{{Short description|American painter, printmaker, and educator (1932–2020)}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Robert Bechtle
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1932|5|14|}}
| birth_place        = [San Francisco](/source/San_Francisco), [California](/source/California), U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|2020|9|24|1932|5|14}}
| death_place        = [Berkeley, California](/source/Berkeley%2C_California), U.S.
| alma_mater         = [California College of Arts and Crafts](/source/California_College_of_Arts_and_Crafts)
| occupation         = artist, educator
| movement           = [Photorealism](/source/Photorealism), [Hyperrealism](/source/Hyperrealism_(visual_arts))
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
* Nancy Elizabeth Dalton,<ref name=":6" />
* [Whitney Chadwick](/source/Whitney_Chadwick)<ref name=":0"/>
}}
| children           = 2<ref name=":0"/>
| employer           = {{plainlist|
* [University of California, Berkeley](/source/University_of_California%2C_Berkeley),
* [University of California, Davis](/source/University_of_California%2C_Davis),
* [San Francisco State University](/source/San_Francisco_State_University)
}}
| known_for          = [painting](/source/painting), [printmaking](/source/printmaking)
| notable_works      = "Alameda Gran Torino" (1974)<ref name=":0"/>
}}

'''Robert Alan Bechtle'''<ref>{{Cite web|title=Oral history interview with Robert Alan Bechtle, 1978 September 13-1980 February 1|url=https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-robert-alan-bechtle-12008|access-date=2021-08-16|website=Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution|language=en}}</ref> (May 14, 1932 – September 24, 2020) was an American [painter](/source/Painting), printmaker, and educator. He lived nearly all his life in the [San Francisco Bay Area](/source/San_Francisco_Bay_Area)<ref name="Bechtle, Robert">{{Cite web |title=Bechtle, Robert |url=https://www.sfmoma.org/artist/robert-bechtle/ |access-date=2024-01-25 |website=SFMOMA |language=en-US}}</ref> and whose art was centered on scenes from everyday local life.<ref name=":2" /> His paintings are in a [Photorealist](/source/photorealism) style and often depict automobiles.<ref name=":3" />

==Biography==
Robert Alan Bechtle was born May 14, 1932, in [San Francisco](/source/San_Francisco), [California](/source/California),<ref name="Bechtle, Robert"/> to parents Otto Bechtle and Thelma (née Peterson) Bechtle.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Kurutz|first=Steven|date=2020-09-30|title=Robert Bechtle, Photorealist Painter of Suburbia, Dies at 88|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/30/arts/robert-bechtle-dead.html|access-date=2021-08-16|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> His mother was a school teacher and his father was an electrician.<ref name=":4">{{Cite magazine|last=Schjeldahl|first=Peter|date=2005-05-01|title=Parked Cars|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/05/09/parked-cars|access-date=2021-08-16|magazine=The New Yorker|publisher=Condé Nast|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> In early childhood, his family moved to [Oakland](/source/Oakland%2C_California), and in 1942 he moved to the city of [Alameda](/source/Alameda%2C_California).<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|date=2020-09-28|title=Robert Bechtle|url=https://art.famsf.org/robert-bechtle|access-date=2021-08-16|website=Fine Art Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF)|language=en}}</ref> Bechtle started drawing at a young age and, with encouragement from his teachers and his family, pursued a future as an artist. He attended [Alameda High School](/source/Alameda_High_School).<ref name=":5" />

By submitting a portfolio of artwork to a national "Scholastic Magazine" competition, Bechtle won a scholarship that paid for his first year of college.<ref name=":5" /> He received his [Bachelor of Fine Arts](/source/Bachelor_of_Fine_Arts) (1954) and [Master of Fine Arts](/source/Master_of_Fine_Arts) (1958) from the California College of Arts and Crafts (now the [California College of the Arts](/source/California_College_of_the_Arts)), in [Oakland, California](/source/Oakland%2C_California).

When he graduated, he was [draft](/source/Conscription)ed into the [United States Army](/source/United_States_Army)<ref name=":0" /> and sent to [Berlin](/source/Berlin), where he painted murals in the [Mess](/source/Mess) Hall and delighted in visiting European museums.

Besides making paintings, watercolors, and drawings, he was an accomplished printmaker. Bechtle began in [lithography](/source/lithography) but, after 1982 when [Crown Point Press](/source/Crown_Point_Press) and [Kathan Brown](/source/Kathan_Brown) began publishing his prints, worked mainly in etching.<ref>{{Cite AV media|url=https://magical-secrets.com/videos/|title=Robert Bechtle at Crown Point Press, 2011 (5 minutes)|date=2011|type=Video|language=English|publisher=Magical Secrets, [Crown Point Press](/source/Crown_Point_Press)}}</ref>

== Teaching ==
From 1965 to 1966, he taught at the [University of California, Berkeley](/source/University_of_California%2C_Berkeley); and at the [University of California, Davis](/source/University_of_California%2C_Davis), from 1967 to 1968.<ref name="Bechtle, Robert"/> Starting in 1968, he taught at [San Francisco State University](/source/San_Francisco_State_University) and lived in San Francisco's [Potrero Hill](/source/Potrero_Hill%2C_San_Francisco) neighborhood.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.berggruen.com/attachment/en/5576d828cfaf34dd488b4568/TextOneColumnWithFile/5576d872cfaf34dd488b6cbf|title=Robert Bechtle|publisher=Berggruen Gallery|accessdate=29 November 2018|archive-date=29 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181129184238/http://www.berggruen.com/attachment/en/5576d828cfaf34dd488b4568/TextOneColumnWithFile/5576d872cfaf34dd488b6cbf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Work==
[[File:Robert Bechtle, ’61 Pontiac, 1968–69.jpg|thumb|Robert Bechtle, ''{{'}}61 Pontiac'', (1968–1969). oil on canvas, 59 3/4 × 84 1/4 in. (151.8 × 214 cm). [Whitney Museum of American Art](/source/Whitney_Museum), New York;  © 1969 Robert Bechtle]]
Alongside artists [John Baeder](/source/John_Baeder), [Richard Estes](/source/Richard_Estes), [Chuck Close](/source/Chuck_Close), [Richard McLean](/source/Richard_McLean_(United_States)), [Ralph Goings](/source/Ralph_Goings), Bechtle was considered to be one of the earliest [Photorealists](/source/photorealism).<ref name=":1" /> By the mid-1960s, he had started developing a style and subject matter that he maintained over his career. Working from his own photographs, Bechtle created paintings described as photographic.

Taking inspiration from his local San Francisco Bay Area surroundings, he painted friends and family and the neighborhoods, and street scenes, paying special attention to automobiles.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=Murdock|first=Andy|date=2021-08-15|title=This Bay Area town is the subject of dozens of famous paintings|url=https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/Alameda-Bay-Area-Robert-Bechtle-paintings-16383056.php|access-date=2021-08-16|website=SFGATE|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> Bechtle's brushwork is barely detectable in his photo-like renditions. His paintings reveal his perspective on how things look to him, the color, and the light of a commonplace scene.

His painting "'61 Pontiac", (made in 1968–1969) feature an image of himself, his first wife Nancy Elizabeth (née Dalton) and their two young children in front of a car.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-04-06|title=Artist Robert Bechtle Makes the Hill his Home|url=https://www.potreroview.net/artist-robert-bechtle-makes-the-hill-his-home/|access-date=2021-08-16|website=Potrero View|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite web|last=Baker|first=Kenneth|date=2013-04-14|title=Robert Bechtle's artwork speaks for him|url=https://www.sfgate.com/art/article/Robert-Bechtle-s-artwork-speaks-for-him-4432898.php|access-date=2021-08-16|website=SFGATE|language=en-US}}</ref>

[Peter Schjeldahl](/source/Peter_Schjeldahl) wrote in ''[The New Yorker](/source/The_New_Yorker)'' in 2005, when he first noticed a Bechtle painting in 1969, he was "rattled by the middle-class ordinariness of the scene".<ref name=":4" /> As he looked more closely, he discovered "a feat of resourceful painterly artifice" that he gradually realized was "beautiful".<ref name=":4" /> The article concludes: "Life is incredibly complicated, and the proof is that when you confront any simple, stopped part of it you are stupefied."<ref name=":4" />

==Exhibits and collections==
Robert Bechtle's work has been exhibited internationally. Museum collections that include his artwork are: the [San Francisco Museum of Modern Art](/source/San_Francisco_Museum_of_Modern_Art) (SFMOMA),<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bechtle, Robert|url=https://www.sfmoma.org/artist/robert_bechtle/|access-date=2021-08-16|website=SFMOMA|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Bechtle, Robert"/> and the [Oakland Museum of California](/source/Oakland_Museum_of_California) (OMCA) in Northern California;<ref>{{Cite web|title=Robert Bechtle|url=http://collections.museumca.org/?q=category/made/robert-bechtle|access-date=2021-08-16|website=Oakland Museum of California (OMCA)}}</ref> the [Museum of Modern Art](/source/Museum_of_Modern_Art), [Metropolitan Museum of Art](/source/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art), Whitney Museum of American Art,<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Robert Bechtle {{!}} '61 Pontiac|url=https://whitney.org/collection/works/493|access-date=2021-08-16|website=Whitney Museum|language=en}}</ref> and the [Guggenheim Museum](/source/Solomon_R._Guggenheim_Museum) in New York City; the [Walker Art Center](/source/Walker_Art_Center) in Minneapolis; and the [Smithsonian American Art Museum](/source/Smithsonian_American_Art_Museum)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Robert Bechtle|url=https://americanart.si.edu/artist/robert-bechtle-301|access-date=2021-08-16|website=Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM)|language=en-US}}</ref> in Washington, D.C.

=== Retrospective exhibits ===
In 2000, Oakland Museum of California held a retrospective exhibit of Bechtle's paintings, "California Classic: Realist Paintings by Robert Bechtle".<ref>{{Cite web|title=California Classic: Realist Paintings by Robert Bechtle|url=http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/1aa/1aa510.htm|access-date=2021-08-16|website=tfaoi.com|publisher=Oakland Museum of California}}</ref>

In 2005, a major retrospective exhibit and the first full–scale survey of the artist's work, "Robert Bechtle: A Retrospective", was organized and exhibited by SFMOMA,<ref>{{Cite web|date=October 20, 2004|title=Robert Bechtle: A Retrospective|url=http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/5aa/5aa61.htm|access-date=2021-08-16|website=www.tfaoi.com|publisher=San Francisco Museum of Modern Art}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Lynch|first=Jill|date=October 20, 2004|title=Major Retrospective Of San Francisco Artist Robert Bechtle At SFMOMA|url=https://www.sfmoma.org/press-release/major-retrospective-of-san-francisco-artist-rober/|access-date=2021-08-16|website=SFMOMA|language=en-US}}</ref> and travelled to the [Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth](/source/Modern_Art_Museum_of_Fort_Worth) and at the [Corcoran Gallery of Art](/source/Corcoran_Gallery_of_Art) in Washington, D.C.<ref name="sfmoma">[https://www.sfmoma.org/press/release/major-retrospective-of-san-francisco-artist-rober/ SFmoma.org:  "Robert Bechtle: A Retrospective"], 2005 exhibit at [San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)](/source/San_Francisco_Museum_of_Modern_Art).</ref>

==Death==
Bechtle died of [Lewy body dementia](/source/Lewy_body_dementia) while in [hospice](/source/hospice) in [Berkeley, California](/source/Berkeley%2C_California), on September 24, 2020.<ref name=":3">{{cite news |last1=Whitting |first1=Sam |title=Robert Bechtle, Bay Area photorealist painter whose work featured everyday cars, dies at 88 |url=https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/art-exhibits/robert-bechtle-bay-area-photorealist-who-often-depicted-common-cars-dies-at-88 |accessdate=September 25, 2020 |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=September 24, 2020}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite news |last1=Meline |first1=Gabe |title=Robert Bechtle, Photorealist Painter of the Everyday Middle Class, Dies at 88 |url=https://www.kqed.org/arts/13886895/robert-bechtle-photorealist-painter-of-the-everyday-middle-class-dies-at-88 |accessdate=September 25, 2020 |publisher=KQED |date=September 25, 2020}}</ref> He was 88 years old, and survived by his wife Whitney Chadwick, and his two children Max and Anne.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":0" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-robert-alan-bechtle-12008 Oral history interview with Robert Bechtle (13 Sept. 1978—1  Feb. 1980)] — ''digital transcript, [Smithsonian Archives of American Art](/source/Archives_of_American_Art) Oral History Program''.
*[http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-robert-bechtle-15764 Oral history interview with Robert Bechtle, (8-9 Feb. 2010)] — ''digital transcript, Smithsonian Archives of American Art Oral History Program''.
* ''Photorealism'', by [Louis K. Meisel](/source/Louis_K._Meisel); Abradale/Harry N. Abrams, New York, NY, (1980); {{ISBN|0810980924}}; {{ISBN|978-0810980921}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bechtle, Robert}}
Category:1932 births
Category:2020 deaths
Category:Photorealist artists
Category:Artists from Berkeley, California
Category:Painters from San Francisco
Category:20th-century American lithographers
Category:Military personnel from Berkeley, California
Category:California College of the Arts alumni
Category:Potrero Hill, San Francisco
Category:San Francisco State University faculty
Category:20th-century American painters
Category:American male painters
Category:21st-century American painters
Category:21st-century American male artists
Category:Deaths from Lewy body dementia
Category:20th-century American male artists
Category:Deaths from dementia in California
Category:People from Alameda, California

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Robert Bechtle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bechtle) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bechtle?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.