Archives of American Art

A Finding Aid to Robert Bechtle Papers, circa 1930s-2020, in the Archives of American Art

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.bechrobe
Creators:
Bechtle, Robert, 1932-2020
Dates:
circa 1930s-2020
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
13.9 Linear feet
Repository:
The Robert Bechtle papers measure 13.9 linear feet and date from circa 1930s-2020. The collection documents his career as a photorealist painter in the San Francisco Bay area. Series include biographical material, correspondence, personal business records, exhibition and gallery records, writings which include artist statements interviews and texts by others, teaching files, printed material, photographic material and artwork.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The Robert Bechtle papers measure 13.9 linear feet and date from circa 1930s-2020. The collection documents his career as a photorealist painter in the San Francisco Bay area. Series include biographical material, correspondence, personal business records, exhibition and gallery records, writings which include artist statements interviews and texts by others, teaching files, printed material, photographic material and artwork.
Biographical material includes military service documents including infantry yearbooks, as well as academic records and degrees for Bechtle and his mother, who continued her education later in life. Also included are highschool yearbooks, the senior year issue featuring art direction from Bechtle, as well as resumes and other supplemental material used by Bechtle's employing institutions to grant sabbaticals and other paid leave. Correspondence is mostly from galleries and museums, in addition to letters from various peers. Also included are letters of recommendation written by Bechtle for faculty or graduate art programs, as well as numerous letters by Bechtle to his mother while he was in the military, including photographs of his travels in Europe, especially Germany. Personal business records include grant applications, applications for sabbatical and other paid leave, as well as studio expenses, planners, and miscellaneous travel documents. Exhibition and gallery records include planning documents for key exhibitions, correspondence, financial documents including sales information, and printed materials from galleries Bechtle worked with over the years, as well as mailing lists, print catalogs, print documentation, and inventory records.
Writings include artist statements and interviews, schoolwork including art history and philosophy papers and notebooks, and academic papers written on Bechtle's work. Teaching materials include lessons, readings, materials lists and syllabi particularly concerning painting, design and printmaking courses at San Francisco State University and other schools.
Printed material includes press clipping and a press scrapbook, as well as invitations and posters, press releases and exhibition catalogs, as well as other types of publications featuring Bechtle's artwork and miscellaneous books and pamphlets from Bachtle's European travel.Photographic material includes photographs of Bechtle and his friends and family, his classmates at CCAC and his military colleagues in Germany. Also included are photographs and slides of artwork by Bechtle and others, as well as photographs and slides used to make Bechtle's photorealistic paintings, drawings, and prints. The artwork series includes childhood and early career drawings including sketchbooks by Bechtle, as well as original materials made by Bechtle for his design work including the Kaiser Company, as well as watercolor and tempera works on paper including demonstration works made in the classroom setting.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The collection is arranged as nine series:
  • Series 1: Biographical Material , circa 1940s-1999 (1 Linear foot: Box 1)
  • Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1950-2017 (1.2 Linear feet: Boxes 2-3)
  • Series 3: Personal Business Records (1 Linear foot: Boxes 3-4)
  • Series 4: Exhibition and Gallery Records, circa 1960s-2019 (1.3 Linear feet: Boxes 4-5)
  • Series 5: Writings, circa 1950-2015 (0.8 Linear feet: Boxes 5-6)
  • Series 6: Teaching Files, circa 1956-1988 (0.2 Linear feet: Box 6)
  • Series 7: Printed Material, circa 1939-2020 (4.6 Linear feet: Boxes 6-10, 13, Oversize 21)
  • Series 8: Photographic Material , circa 1930s-2010 (2.8 Linear feet: Boxes 10-15)
  • Series 9: Artwork, circa 1930s-1999 (1 Linear foot: Box 12, Oversize 16-20)

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Robert Bechtle (1932-2020) was a photorealist painter, educator, and printmaker born in Alameda, California, and lived and worked primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area including a long-time residence in Oakland.
Bechtle completed both undergraduate and Master of Fine Arts degrees at the California College of Arts and Crafts by 1958, in between which he served a few year in the United States Military, primarily stationed in Germany. Like the other photorealist painters of his era, Bechtle engineered a style of painting which was based more on keen observation and excruciating detail than any visually discernible stylism. His subjects were largely suburban and mundane and often incorporated images of himself and family members. He would project photographs and incorporate those copied images directly into paintings. In addition to paintings, Bechtle eventually translated his practice into both charcoal drawing and printmaking. He taught at the San Francisco State University where he was named Professor Emeritus in 1999, as well as other schools.
One of the milestones of his career was a retrospective exhibition organized in 2005 by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, also traveling to the Corcoran Museum of Art in 2006. Robert Bechtle's work has been exhibited internationally and his paintings and other artworks are held in numerous collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Oakland Museum of California, Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art,and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington. Bechtle passed in October 2020 from Lewy Dementia and is survived by his second wife Whitney Chadwick and his two children Max and Anne, who were born from his first marriage to Nancy Dalton.

Administration

Author
Ryan Evans
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated 2022-2023 by the Robert Bechtle and Whitney Chadwick Revocable Trust via Robert Firehock, representative of the Estate of Robert Bechtle.
Processing Information
The collection was processed by Ryan Evans in 2022.

Using the Collection

Terms of Use
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Conditions Governing Use
The donor has retained all intellectual property rights, including copyright, that they may own in the following material: 40 demonstration works of art on papers by Robert Bechtle.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
Preferred Citation
Robert Bechtle papers, circa 1950-2015. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Related Materials
The Archives of American Art also holds a 1978 September 13- 1980 February 1 oral history intereview with Robert A. Bechtle and a 2010 February 8-9 oral history interview with Robert A. Bechtle.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Printmakers -- California -- San Francisco Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- California -- San Francisco Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Educators -- California -- San Francisco Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Scrapbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sketchbooks Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Drawings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Diaries Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Video recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photo-realism Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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