Ed Ruscha; Robert Bechtle - Editions & Works on Paper New York Thursday, February 15, 2024 | Phillips
  • “I’m not interested in style... I’m interested in looking.”
    —Robert Bechtle
    The collection of Robert Bechtle and Whitney Chadwick, assembled over their nearly forty-year marriage, reflects Bechtle’s legacy as a preeminent Photorealist along with Chadwick’s expertise as a historian and scholar. With works by Wayne Thiebaud, Ed Ruscha, and Leonora Carrington, among others, their extensive collection of editions and works on paper represents many of Bechtle’s fellow Bay Area artists, notable names in Pop, and female figureheads of Modernism and Surrealism whom Chadwick championed through her writings and teachings.   

     

    Known for his tightly detailed renderings of suburban landscapes and vintage cars, Bechtle is considered one of the founding Photorealists, a set of artists who used photographs as a point of departure for their hyperrealist art. Such interest in notions of realism permeate the works on offer, presenting a multitude of the artistic methodologies for interpreting the world: a visual interpretation of the musicality and movement of a ballet, postmodern representations of landscape, a surreal memory of a childhood home, and even different artists’ renditions of Bechtle himself. Following his passing at the age of 88 in 2020, Bechtle’s legacy persists through his collection, inspiring the continued search for unexpected beauty in the everyday. 

    • Literature

      Siri Engberg 59 (Ruscha)

Property from the Robert Bechtle and Whitney Chadwick Trust, San Francisco, California

66

Grey Suds, from Suds (E.59); and '61 Pontiac

1971
Grey Suds screenprint in colors, on Arches paper, the full sheet, '61 Pontiac lithograph, on Rives BFK paper, the full sheet (trimmed).
Ruscha S. 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm)
Bechtle S. 23 7/8 x 18 in. (60.6 x 45.7 cm)

Grey Suds signed, dated and numbered 12/100 in pencil (there were also 15 artist's proofs), published by Edizioni O, Milan, '61 Pontiac presumably an unsigned proof, aside from the edition of 15, framed together.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$3,000 - 5,000 

Sold for $4,064

Editions & Works on Paper

New York Auction 15 February 2024