Crown Point Press

Biography - Robert Bechtle

Born

1932 San Francisco, CA. Lives and Works in San Francisco

Education

1960 University of California, Berkeley, CA
1958 MFA, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA
1954 BA, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2007 Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY
“The Painting of Modern Life,” The Hayward Gallery, London, England
2006 “Robert Bechtle: A Retrospective” Corcoran Gallery of Art
2005 “Robert Bechtle: A Retrospective” Modern Art Museum of Ft. Worth
2004 “Robert Bechtle: A Retrospective” San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
2002 “Robert Bechtle: Drawings,” Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
2001 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
2000 Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
“Robert Bechtle: Centric 58,” University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, CA; Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
1997 “Watercolors”, O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
1996 “Generations,” Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
“Works on Paper,” Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
1993 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
1991 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Chicago, ILL
Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
“Robert Bechtle: New Work,” San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
1987 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
1984 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
1981 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
1980 Matrix, University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA
1977 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
1974 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
1973 John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Jack Glenn Gallery, San Diego, CA
Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, San Diego, CA
E.B. Crocker Gallery, Sacramento, CA
1971 O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
1969 Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, California
Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA
1967 Berkeley Center, San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
University of California, Davis, CA
1966 E. B. Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, CA
1965 Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
Berkeley Gallery, Berkeley, CA
1964 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
1959 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA

Selected Group Exhibitions

2006 “Infinite Painting” Villa Manin Centro d’Art Contemporanea Codroipo, Italy
“Full House” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
2004 “Watercolor Worlds,” Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs, Long Island City, NY
2003 “Friends: Robert Bechtle and Tom Marioni,” Crown Point Press, San Francisco, CA
2002 “Vintage Photorealists” Bernarducci Meisel Gallery, New York, NY
“American Standard: (Para)Normality and Everyday Life,” Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY
“As Real as it Gets: Super Realism and Photo-Realism from the Tucson Museum of Art and Private Collections, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
“New York Renaissance: Masterworks from the Collection of the Whitney Museum, Palazzo Reale Milan, Italy
“Photorealism: The Liff Collection,” Naples Museum of Art, Naples, FL
2001 “Les Années Pop,” Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
“This is America: American Photorealists,” Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark
“Looking at You,” Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
2000 “Made in California: Art, Image, and Identity, 1900-2000, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
A Century of the American Dream, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagoya; Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Kobe, Japan
“Go Figure,” O.K. Harris Works of Art, New York, NY
“The Photorealists,” Holmes Galler, Center for the Arts, Vero Beaech, FL
“Urban Realism,” Blain Fine Art, London, UK
1999 “The American Century: Art & Culture 1950-2000,” Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY
First Annual Realism Invitational, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1998 “Realism Knows No Bounds,” van de Griff Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1997 “Drawings: Realism to Abstraction: A Contemporary Survey of the Bay Area,” Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA
“Photorealists,” Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA
“Spring Fever,” Crown Point Press, San Francisco, CA
1997 “Structures: Architecture in America Art 1900-1997,” John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
“Thirty-Five Years at Crown Point Press,” National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
1996 “CCAC: Past, Present, and Future (1906-1996),” Oliver Art Center, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA
“Contemporary American Realism,” Posco Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
“Paper Work,” Louis K Meisel Gallery, New York, NY
“Generations: The Lineage of Influence in Bay Area Art,” Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
1995 “The Landscape of American Culture, 1967-1975,” John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
“Newly Elected Members and Recipients of Honors and Awards,” American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY
“American Academy Invitational Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture,” American Academy of Arts and Letter, New York, NY
“Facing Eden, 100 Years of Landscape Art in the Bay Area,” The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA
“Drawing the Twentieth Century: Works on Paper from the Permanent Collection,” San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
1994 “46th Annual Academy Purchase Exhibition,” American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY
1993 “Bay Area Tradition: Robert Bechtle, Christopher Brown, Wayne Thiebaud,” Crown Point Press, San Francisco, CA
“A Review,” Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York, NY
Montgomery Glasoe Fine Art, Minnneapolis, MN
“45th Annual Academy Purchase Exhibit,” American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY
“California: Art from the 1930s to the Present,” San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
1992 “Directions in Bay Area Printmaking: 3 Decades,” Palo Alto Cultural Center, Palo Alto, CA
1991 “Traffic Jam: The Automobile in Art,” New Jersey Center for Visual Arts, Summit, NJ
“Six Takes on Photorealism,” Whitney Museum of American Art at Champion, Stamford, CT
“American Life in American Art; Selections from the Permanent Collection,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
“Drawing Aquisitions, 1980-1990, Selections from the Permanent Collection,” Whitney Museum of American Art at Phillip Morris, New York, NY
1990 “Woodblock Prints From the People’s Republic of China,” Crown Point Press, New York, NY
1989 “Robert Bechtle, Chuck Close, Robert Cottingham, Malcolm Morley and Sigmar Polke,” Pat Hearn, New York, NY
“Under Pressure,” Center for the Arts, Vero Beach, FL
International Biennial of Graphic Art, Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana, Yugoslavia
1988 “The Artists of California: A Group Portrait in Mixed Media,” Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA; Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
1987 “Realism: The New Generation,” R.H. Love Modern, Chicago, IL
“Multiple Realities,” Crown Point Press, San Francisco, CA; Crown Point Gallery New York, NY
1986 “Views Across America,” Pfizer Inc., New York, NY. Organized by the Art Advisory Service, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY.
“Das Automobile in der Kunst 1886-1986,” Haus der Kunst , Munich, Germany
“Television’s Impact on Contemporary Art,” The Queens Museum, New York, NY
1985 “Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition,” San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
“Realism: Contemporary Americans,” Hooks‑Epstein Galleries, Houston, TX
“Views Across America,” Gannett Company, New York, NY; organized by the Museum of Modern Art Advisory Service
“American Realism: Twentieth‑Century Drawings and Watercolors from the Glenn C Janss Collection,” San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
“American Realism,” William Sawyer Gallery, San Francisco, CA
“American Realism: The Precise Image,” Isetan Museum, Tokyo; Daimaru Museum, Osaka, Japan
“Fortissimo! Thirty Years from the Richard Brown Collection of Glenn C. Janss,” Boise Gallery of Art, Boise, ID
1984 “Autoscape: The Automobile in the American Landscape,” Whitney Museum of American Art, Fairfield County, Stamford, CT
“Art and the Automobile,” Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
1983 “West Coast Realism,” Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Laguna Beach, CA
“Realism Now, Museum of Modern Art,” Saitima, Japan
“American Super Realism from the Morton G. Neumann Family Collection,” Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, IL
“American Interiors,” California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA
“Bay Area Art of the Sixties,” University of California at Davis, CA
1982 “Drawings by California Painters,” Long Beach Art Museum, Long Beach, CA; Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
Myers Fine Arts Gallery, State University College, Plattsburgh, NY
John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1981 “Seven Photorealists from New York Collections,” Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
“Drawing Acquisitions: 1978-1981,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
“Contemporary American Realism since 1960,” Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; traveling to: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA; Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA; Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal; Salas de Exposiciones (Recoletos) Madrid, Spain; Kunsthalle, Nuremburg, West Germany
Proctor Art Center, Bard College, Annandale‑on‑Hudson, NY
“Changes: Art in America 1881‑1981,” Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
“New York Gallery Showcase,” Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, OK
1980 “Reflections of Realism,” Albuquerque Museum of Art, History and Science, Albuquerque, NM
1979 “America in the ’70s as Depicted by Artists in the Richard Brown Baker Collection,” Meadowbrook Art Gallery, Oakland University, Rochester, MI
North Texas State University, Denton, TX
“Photorealism,” Jorgensen Gallery, University of Connecticut Storrs, CT
“Perceiving Time and Space Through Art,” Harnett Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
1978 “Representations of America,” Pushkin Fine Art Museum, Moscow, Russia
University of Virginia Art Museum, Charlottesville, VA
“California: Three by Eight Twice,” Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, HI
“Art and the Automobile,” Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI
Albert Contreras Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
“Photo‑Realist Printmaking,” Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York
1977 “Thirty Years of American Art 1945-1975: Selections from the Permanent Collection,” Whitney Museum of American Art New York, NY
“A View of a Decade,” Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
“Works on Paper II,” Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York, NY
“Illusion and Reality,” Australian National Gallery, Canberra, Traveled to Western Australian Art Gallery, Perth; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Australia
1976 “Art 7’76,” Basel, Switzerland
“America 1976,” Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. Traveled to: Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT; Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA and Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, Minneapolis, MN; Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, WI; Fort Worth Art Museum, Ft. Worth, TX; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
“Aspects of Realism,” travelling exhibition sponsored by Rothman’s of Pall Mall Canada Ltd., Stratford, Ont.; Centennial Museum, Vancouver, B.C.; Glenbow‑Alberta Institute, Calgary, Alta.; Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Sask.; Winnipeg Art Gallery, Man.; Edmonton Art Gallery, Alta.; Art Gallery, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s; Confederation Art Gallery and Museum, Confederation Art Gallery and Museum, Halifax, N.S.; Windsor Art Gallery, Ont.; London Public Library and Art Museum and McIntosh Memorial Art Gallery; University of Western Ontario; Art Gallery of Hamilton, Ont.
“Works on Paper,” Galerie de Gestlo, Hamburg, West Germany
“Today/Tomorrow,” Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL
“Super Realism,” Baltimore Museum, Baltimore, MD
America as Art, National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
“Painting and Sculpture in California: The Modern Era,” San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington DC
1975 “Photo‑Realism: American Painting and Prints,” New Zealand. Traveled to Barrington Gallery, Auckland; Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch; Academy of Fine Arts, National Art Gallery, Wellington; Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin; Govett‑Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth; Waikato Art Museum, Hamilton
1975 Richard Brown Baker Collects, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
Carlin Station, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
“The New Realism: Rip Off or Reality?” Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, KS
“Signs of Life: Symbols in the City,” Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C.
1974 “Works on Paper,” Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
“Art 5’74,” Basel, Switzerland
“Amerikaans fotorealisme grafiek,” Hedendaagse Kunst, Utrecht; Palais des Beaux‑Arts, Brussels
“Tokyo Biennale ‘74,” Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art; Kyoto Municipal Museum; Aichi Prefectural Art Museum, Ngoya, Japan
1973 “Hyperrealisme,” Galerie Isy Brachot, Brussels, Belgium 1973 “American Art‑‑Third Quarter Century,” Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
“Ekstrem realisme,” Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark
“Image, Reality, and Superreality,” Arts Council of Great Britain
1973 Documenta 5, Kassel, West Germany
California Representation: Eight Painters in Documenta 5, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
“Photorealism,” Serpentine Gallery, London, England
Quatrième salon international d’art, Basel, Switzerland
“Hyperrealistes Americains,” Galerie Arditti, Paris, France
“Grands Maitres Hyperrealistes Americains,” Galerie des Quatre Mouvements, Paris, France
Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1972 “Amerikanischer Fotorealismus,” Wurttembergischer Kunst‑verein, Stuttgart; Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt; Kunst und Museumsverein, Wuppertal, West Germany
“California Prints,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
“The Realist Revival,” New York Cultural Center, New York, NY
“Works on Paper,” John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
“The State of California Painting,” Govett‑Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand
1971 “The Shape of Realism,” Deson‑Zaks Gallery, Chicago, IL
Arts Festival 1971, Dowling College, Oakdale, NY
Purdue University, Lafayette, IN
1970 Directions 1970, Virginia Museum of FineArts, Richmond, VA
“Graphics ‘71,” University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
“West Coast ‘70,” E.B. Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, CA
“American Report‑The 1960s,” Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
Jerrold Morris Gallery, Toronto, Canada
“Cool Realism,” Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
“Twenty‑Two Realists,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1969 “Painting and Sculpture Today 1969,” Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN; University of Oklahoma, Tulsa, OK
Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN
1969 Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture, Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign‑Urbana, IL
1968 “Realism Now,” Vassar College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY
1967 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
The Artist as His Subject, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Contemporary Western Painting, University of Arizona, Tuscon, AZ
Painters Behind Painters, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA
1965 “Recent California Painting,” Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, CA
1964 “Winter Invitational,” California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
1961 “Winter Invitational,” California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
1960 “Winter Invitational,” California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
“Lithography: Ingres to Picasso,” Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA
Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
1959 Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
1958 Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
Provincetown Arts Festival, Provincetown, MA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
1957 Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA

Selected Bibliography

2004 New York Times, “Robert Bechtle,” Sept. 12.
2000 Wall Street Journal , ” Made in California”, David Littlejohn, December 8.
New York Times , “Making Pen and Ink Seem Passe: The proliferation of New Ways to Draw”, John Russell, August 18.
1996 San Francisco Bay Guardian , “Anne Appleby and Robert Bechtle”, Hary Roche, December 11.
New York Times, ” Also of Note”, Pepe Karmel, March 22.
1992 New York Times , ” Robert Bechtle”, Robert Smith, November 13.
New York Times ( Connecticut Section), “Differences Can Outweigh Similarities in Photo-Realism”, Vivian Rayno, January 5.
1991 San Francisco Examiner, “We’ve Been in This Neighborhood Before- or Have We?”,
David Bonetti, September 24, p.B3.
Art Week , ” Robert Bechtle”, Terri Cohn, May 23, p.13.
Los Angeles Times, “Lonely Scenes of Isolation from Bechtle”, Kristine McKenna, April 23, p.F6.
1990 San Francisco Chronicle, ” A Familiar Stroll Through Realist Terrain”, Kenneth Backer, July 1, Review/ p.4
1988 Los Angeles Times, “Personality Plus Captured in California Portraits”, Cathy Curtis,
May 31, 1988, Part IV/p.4
1982 New York Times, “Pooling of Resources Produces Stimulating Success”, Vivian Raynor, February 7, 1982.
1981 Village Voice, “Opposites Attract”, Peter Schjedahl, April 16, 1981.
1978 Washington Post, “New Smithsonian Art: From the ”Sublime’ to Photo Realism”, Paul
Richard, November 30, 1978.
1977 Soho Weekly News , “Four Artists”, John Perrault, December 29, 1977.
New York Times , “Art: While Waiting for Tomorrow”, Vivian Raynor, December 29.
Melbourne Sun, “Realism from the Squad”, Jeffery Makin, October 19, 1977, p.43.
Sunday Telegraph ( New South Wales), ” In Search of Reality” W. E. Pidgeon, July 31.
1976 Sydney Morning Hearld, “In Selecting a Common Domestic Object”, Nancy Borlase, December 30.
Washington Star, “The New Realism, Paintings Worth 1000 Words”, Benjamin Forgey, November 30, p.G24.
Vancouver Sun, “Aspects of Realism”, Mary Fox, September 21, 1976.
Soho Weekly News, “Getting Flack”, John Perreault, April22, 1976, p.19.
1975 Portland Oregonian, “Coast Artist Credited with New Realists”, Beth Fagan, Sept. 21.
San Francisco Chronicle, “A Wide View of the New Realists”, Thomas Albright, February 6, 1975.
Toledo Blade, “Brash Paintings Stimulate Thinking Rather than Passive Thoughts”, Louise Bruner, January 12, 1975, p.4.
1974 New York Times, “Too Easy to be Art?”, Peter Schjedahl, May 12, 1974, p.23.
Soho Weekly News, “On Art”, Peter Frank, April 18, 1974, p.14.
1973 Christian Science Monitor, “Today’s Pilgrims”, Corinne Geeting, November 21, 1973.
Art Week, “Robert Bechtle Print Retrospective”, Judith Dunham, November 10, 1973.
San Francisco Examiner, “Turning Photos into Subtle Art”, Alexaner Fried, November 6.
San Francisco Chronicle, “An Artist with Vision”, Thomas Albright, October 26, 1973.
San Francisco Chronicle, “A Cool Retrospective of a Master New Realist”, Alfred Frankenstein, October 7, 1973.
Sacramento Bee, “A New Realist Takes a Look at Parked Cars”, Charles Johnson, September 16, 1973.
Rinascita, “Imperrealismo tra ‘pop’ e informale”, Antonip del Guercio, No. 8, February 23, 1973, p.34.
Le Monde , “Le super-realisme”, Jacques Michael, February 6, 1973, p.23.
Los Angels Times , “New Realism: Crisp Focus on the American Scene”, Henry J. Seldis, January 21, 1973, p.54.
1970 Newsday, ” On the Arts”, Emily Genauer, February 21.
1967 San Francisco Examiner , “Review”, Alexander Fried, August 11, 1967.
San Francisco Chronicle, “Realism Brought Down to Date”, Alfred Frankenstein, February 2.

Selected Collections

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Solomon Guggengeim Museum, New York, NY
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA
Govett‑Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, San Francisco, CA
Arts Council of Great Britain
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Southland Corporation, Dallas, TX
Richard Brown Baker, New York, NY
Robert Rossi‑Arnaud, Paris, France
Malcolm Forbes, New York, NY
Dr. Peter Ludwig, Aachen, West Germany

Awards and Honors

1995 Academy Award in Painting, American Academy of Arts and Letter
1993 Elected Academician, National Academy of Design
1989 Individual Artists Grant, National Endowment for the Arts
1983 Fellow, John Simon Guggenheim Foundation
1982 NEA Individual Artist Grant
1977 NEA Individual Artist Grant