Oral history interview with Robert Bechtle
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 6 memory cards. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 56 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Bechtle, Robert, 1932-2020
label: Interviewee
content: Richards, Judith Olch
topic: label: Topic
content: Painters -- California -- San Francisco -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Photo-realism
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Bechtle, Robert, 1932-2020
label: Interviewee
content: Richards, Judith Olch
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Interviewee Robert Bechtle (1932-2020) was a Photorealist painter in San Francisco, California. Interviewer Judith Olch Richards (1947- ) is former Executive director of iCI in New York, New York.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 75 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2010 February 8-9
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.bechtl10
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Robert Bechtle conducted 2010 February 8 and 9, by Judith Olch Richards, for the Archives of American Art, at Bechtle's home and studio, in San Francisco, California.

Interview of Robert Bechtle, conducted by Judith Richards for the Archives of American Art, in Bechtle's home in San Francisco, California on February 8 and 9, 2010.   This is a second interview conducted for the archives, continuing from an interview with Bechtle in 1980.  The interview mainly focuses on how is work has changed or remained the same since 1980; in particular his lighting study from midday to morning and evening; the grouping of photos to create a painting; new technology; the continuing challenges of his work; dispelling popular notions about his work such as the idea of neutral light and the Americana symbolism of his cars; his teaching endeavors at San Francisco State University and California College of Arts and Crafts; and the transition from his gallery residency at OK Harris to Barbara Gladstone; Bechtle also recalls Ivan Karp, Chuck Close, Ralph Goings, Edward Hopper, Jerome Witkin, Rackstraw Jones, Kathan Brown, Wayne Theibaud, Mitzi Pederson, and others.