Age, Biography and Wiki

Robert Bechtle was born on 14 May, 1932 in San Francisco, California, U.S., is an American painter, printmaker, and educator (1932–2020). Discover Robert Bechtle's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is he in this year and how he spends money? Also learn how he earned most of networth at the age of 88 years old?

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Occupation artist, educator
Age 88 years old
Zodiac Sign Taurus
Born 14 May 1932
Birthday 14 May
Birthplace San Francisco, California, U.S.
Date of death 24 September, 2020
Died Place Berkeley, California, U.S.
Nationality United States

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 14 May. He is a member of famous artist with the age 88 years old group.

Robert Bechtle Height, Weight & Measurements

At 88 years old, Robert Bechtle height not available right now. We will update Robert Bechtle's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

Physical Status
Height Not Available
Weight Not Available
Body Measurements Not Available
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Who Is Robert Bechtle's Wife?

His wife is Nancy Elizabeth Dalton, Whitney Chadwick

Family
Parents Not Available
Wife Nancy Elizabeth Dalton, Whitney Chadwick
Sibling Not Available
Children 2

Robert Bechtle Net Worth

His net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Robert Bechtle worth at the age of 88 years old? Robert Bechtle’s income source is mostly from being a successful artist. He is from United States. We have estimated Robert Bechtle's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
House Not Available
Cars Not Available
Source of Income artist

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Timeline

1932

Robert Alan Bechtle (May 14, 1932 – September 24, 2020) was an American painter, printmaker, and educator.

He lived nearly all his life in the San Francisco Bay Area and whose art was centered on scenes from everyday local life.

His paintings are in a Photorealist style and often depict automobiles.

Robert Alan Bechtle was born May 14, 1932, in San Francisco, California, to parents Otto Bechtle and Thelma (née Peterson) Bechtle.

His mother was a school teacher and his father was an electrician.

1942

In early childhood, his family moved to Oakland, and in 1942 he moved to the city of Alameda.

Bechtle started drawing at a young age and, with encouragement from his teachers and his family, pursued a future as an artist.

He attended Alameda High School.

By submitting a portfolio of artwork to a national “Scholastic Magazine” competition, Bechtle won a scholarship that paid for his first year of college.

1954

He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts (1954) and Master of Fine Arts (1958) from the California College of Arts and Crafts (now the California College of the Arts), in Oakland, California.

When he graduated, he was drafted into the United States Army and sent to Berlin, where he painted murals in the Mess Hall and delighted in visiting European museums.

Besides making paintings, watercolors, and drawings, he was an accomplished printmaker.

1960

By the mid-1960s, he had started developing a style and subject matter that he maintained over his career.

Working from his own photographs, Bechtle created paintings described as photographic.

Taking inspiration from his local San Francisco Bay Area surroundings, he painted friends and family and the neighborhoods, and street scenes, paying special attention to automobiles.

Bechtle's brushwork is barely detectable in his photo-like renditions.

His paintings reveal his perspective on how things look to him, the color, and the light of a commonplace scene.

1965

From 1965 to 1966, he taught at the University of California, Berkeley; and at the University of California, Davis, from 1967 to 1968.

1968

Starting in 1968, he taught at San Francisco State University and lived in San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood.

Alongside artists John Baeder, Richard Estes, Chuck Close, Richard McLean, Ralph Goings, Bechtle was considered to be one of the earliest Photorealists.

His painting "'61 Pontiac", (made in 1968–1969) feature an image of himself, his first wife Nancy Elizabeth (née Dalton) and their two young children in front of a car.

1982

Bechtle began in lithography but, after 1982 when Crown Point Press and Kathan Brown began publishing his prints, worked mainly in etching.

2000

In 2000, Oakland Museum of California held a retrospective exhibit of Bechtle's paintings, "California Classic: Realist Paintings by Robert Bechtle".

2005

Peter Schjeldahl wrote in The New Yorker in 2005, when he first noticed a Bechtle painting in 1969, he was "rattled by the middle-class ordinariness of the scene".

As he looked more closely, he discovered "a feat of resourceful painterly artifice" that he gradually realized was "beautiful".

The article concludes: "Life is incredibly complicated, and the proof is that when you confront any simple, stopped part of it you are stupefied."

Robert Bechtle's work has been exhibited internationally.

Museum collections that include his artwork are: the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) in Northern California; the 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, D.C.

In 2005, a major retrospective exhibit and the first full–scale survey of the artist's work, "Robert Bechtle: A Retrospective," was organized and exhibited by SFMOMA, and travelled to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

2020

Bechtle died of Lewy body dementia while in hospice in Berkeley, California, on September 24, 2020.

He was 88 years old, and survived by his wife Whitney Chadwick, and his two children Max and Anne.