Robert Bechtle: A Retrospective [Hardcover]

Janet Bishop (Author), Michael Auping (Author), Jonathan Weinberg (Author), Charles Ray (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 14, 2005

Tracing Robert Bechtle's career from his earliest paintings of the 1960s to the present day, this is the definitive book on one of the founders and foremost practitioners of American Photorealism. Created in close collaboration with the artist, Robert Bechtle will accompany the distinguished painter's first retrospective exhibition. Lavish plates feature reproductions of approximately ninety of Bechtle's most significant artworks, from large-scale oil paintings to intimate watercolors and drawings. These magnificent illustrations portray the range of the San Francisco-based painter's iconic imagery of California--the rows of palm trees, stucco houses, and the ubiquitous automobiles that spurred suburban expansion--as well as his lesser-known but equally compelling family scenes and stark interiors. Bechtle's preference for wide, empty spaces; his flat, sun-bleached palette; and his detached mode of recording random details impart a singular sense of alienation to his subjects. His deadpan paintings capture the essence of the postwar American experience, in which California often serves as the testing ground for the realization of national dreams.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Bechtle's art is, essentially, an attenuated and impeccably modest contemporary version of impressionism. It records, almost anonymously, the subtlety and variety with which the ordinary world is revealed by light. So doing, it dignifies the commonplace while also illuminating the complex, artificial process of seeing, choosing, and painting that can yield art." - Roberta Smith, New York Times "Bechtle's evocation of pure light... is a feat of genuine virtuosity." - Jennifer R. Crohn, Arts Magazine "Bechtle's work is infused with a melancholy lyricism." - Kristine McKenna, Los Angeles Times "Robert Bechtle's sparkling California light and dense shadows, his gleaming American cars parked on empty streets and neat, pastel row houses are like a reflection in someone's dark glasses: you see more of yourself than the wearer." - Abby Wasserman, The Museum of California magazine"

About the Author

Janet Bishop is Curator of painting and sculpture at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Michael Auping is Chief Curator at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. He is the author of Abstract Expressionism: The Critical Developments (1987), Clyfford Still (1904-1980): The Buffalo and San Francisco Collections (1992), and Arshile Gorky: The Breakthrough Years (1995). Jonathan Weinberg is an art historian and painter. He is the author of Ambition and Love in Modern American Art (2001) and Speaking for Vice: Homosexuality in the Art of Charles Demuth, Marsden Hartley, and the First American Avant-Garde (1995). Charles Ray is a Los Angeles-based artist. His writings on art have appeared in the New York Times and a variety of other publications.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (March 14, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520245431
• ISBN-13: 978-0520245433
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 10.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #988,269 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Capturing the Magic of California Light, December 12, 2005

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Robert Bechtle: A Retrospective (Hardcover)

Robert Bechtle has been a creative force in California art since the 1960s, yet his name remains practically unknown outside the Bay Area artists group. This very fine monograph by Janet Bishop, designed as a catalogue to accompany the traveling exhibition of this works, should help to mend that sin of omission. The style of writing is warm and informative and, in many ways, in keeping with Bechtle's vision of the world he paints!

One quick perusal of the many reproductions of his major works in this book quickly leaves the impression that Bechtle understands and successfully captures the quality of light that is peculiar to California. His street scenes of angled cars and bungalows are flooded with light and shadow. Though his art movement classification is Photorealism, Bechtle goes beyond mere photo copying techniques. His work is more about our lifestyle and our living compartments normally looked upon as mere blocks of space in which we function. Bechtle enhances everything he paints with a sunny 'romanticism' if you will. His art is more about a love affair with the atmosphere's effect on the mundane places we inhabit than it is with simple reproduction of images and landscapes.

For the art lover of realism and for those who respect the prodigious gifts of representational artists, this book is a must for the library. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, December 05

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars America's Overlooked Photo Realist--Review Revised, May 17, 2005

By 

Maclen (Hawaii, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Robert Bechtle: A Retrospective (Hardcover)

This book by Janet Bishop was published in conjunction with the first major retrospective of Robert Bechtle, a San Francisco Bay Area photo realist in his 70s. Until recently, Bechtle, who paints street scenes and rows of tract houses, was known only to Bay Area collectors and critics. Now, because of this exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art which then travels to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Bechtle is receiving deserving national exposure. Bechtle, like the rest of the photo realists, such as Richard Estes, Chuck Close and Ralph Goings, believes that by painting exactly what a photograph reveals, he is painting the truest and most accurate form of realism, because he is removing the artist and the artist's emotions and feelings from his paintings. But what this book so aptly suggests is that even photographers, who use the camera to capture a scene, infuse the subject with their identity: the photographer chooses the subject, crops the photograph in a certain manner, decides whether the photograph will be in color or black and white, and how the subject will be juxtaposed with other images. This is exactly what Bechtle does in his paintings. One can't help but think that his choice of lower middle class suburban streets and houses is a comment on the banality of existence and American consumerism. Bishop does a first-rate job in this book, selecting paintings from Bechtle's entire career, which spans four decades. Moreover, Bishop includes excellent commentaries from critics with different and interesting perspectives. A fine effort.

For those of you who missed the Bechtle retrospective at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art or the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, you should be aware that The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. has announced that it will be the final venue for the retrospective from March 4 to June 4, 2006.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, Great Price, September 9, 2005

By 

Michael P. Oconnor "Artist" (Madison, MS) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Robert Bechtle: A Retrospective (Hardcover)

I drove from Jackson, Mississippi to the Modern Museum of Ft. Worth see the Retrospective of Robert Bechtle's work. I am an artist myself and was astounded at the collection in this exhibit. The book does a superb job of presenting photos of the paintings in the collection. Additionally, the museum store at The Modern had none of these books in stock so it was fortunate that I ordered it when I did.