Object Record
Images
Metadata
Artist |
Bechtle, Robert |
Title |
Fosters Freeze, Escalon |
Date |
1975 |
Medium |
Oil on Canvas |
Place of Origin |
American (U.S.) |
Culture |
American |
School |
Photorealism |
Object ID |
2001.50.1 |
Collection |
Contemporary Art (1970-present) |
Object Name |
Painting |
Credit line |
Gift of Ivan and Zoya Gerhath |
Didactic Information |
Noted Photorealist Robert Bechtle renders his subjects as seen through the camera lens of a familiar friend. Casual and unpretentious, his paintings depict sharp reality and unemotional glimpses at life. He often portrays his own family in candid scenarios or comfortable, posed compositions. Bechtle received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1954 and a Master of Arts degree in 1958 from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California. Gradually his work turned from abstraction to realism, a result of his growing interest in "how things look" and in everyday surroundings and middle-class life. (Feb 2017) Robert Bechtle Fosters Freeze, Escalon, 1975 Fosters Freeze, Escalon reflects the Photorealist style in which Bechtle began working during the mid-1960s. His painting changed profoundly when he started snapping black and white photos and working from them in his studio. The mundane locations and activities of middle class daily life soon became the focus of Bechtle's work. The paint is barely noticeable on the surface of this simple scene of Bechtle's own young family enjoying ice cream at an outside stand in a small California town during the mid-1970s. Though some deny the presence of any narrative, these quiet moments of daily life tell the story of the artist's personal experience. |