A direct challenge to Abstract Expressionism’s subjectivity and gestural vigor, Photorealism was informed by the Pop predilection for representational imagery, popular iconography and tools, like projectors and airbrushes, borrowed from the worlds of commercial art and design.
Whether gritty or gleaming, the subject matter favored by Photorealists is instantly, if vaguely, familiar. It’s the stuff of yellowing snapshots and fugitive memories. The bland and the garish alike flicker between crystal-clear reality and dreamy illusion, inviting the viewer to contemplate a single moment rather than igniting a story.
The virtues of the “photo” in Photorealist art — infused as they are with dazzling qualities that are easily blurred in reproduction — are as elusive as they are allusive. “Much Photorealist painting has the vacuity of proportion and intent of an idiot-savant, long on look and short on personal timbre,” John Arthur wrote (rather admiringly) in the catalogue essay for Realism/Photorealism, a 1980 exhibition at the Philbrook Museum of Art, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At its best, Photorealism is a perpetually paused tug-of-war between the sacred and the profane, the general and the specific, the record and the object.
“Robert Bechtle invented Photorealism, in 1963,” says veteran art dealer Louis Meisel. “He took a picture of himself in the mirror with the car outside and then painted it. That was the first one.”
The meaning of the term, which began for Meisel as “a superficial way of defining and promoting a group of painters,” evolved with time, and the core group of Photorealists slowly expanded to include younger artists who traded Rolleiflexes for 60-megapixel cameras, using advanced digital technology to create paintings that transcend the detail of conventional photographs.
On 1stDibs, the collection of Photorealist art includes work by Richard Estes, Ralph Goings, Chuck Close, Audrey Flack, Charles Bell and others.
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Trompe l'oeil, Death Valley, Billboard, March 4, 2017, 5:41 pm, California, USA
By JR artist
Located in Zug, CH
JR Trompe l'oeil, Death Valley, Billboard, March 4, 2017, 5:41 pm, California, USA, 2021 14 colors lithograph printed on Marinoni machine on White paper BFK Rives - 270 grammes Editi...
Lithograph
Price Upon Request
Mississippi Street Intersection
Located in Palo Alto, CA
Created in 2007, this color soft ground etching with aquatint on paper is hand-signed and dated by Robert Bechtle (San Francisco, 1932 - Berkeley, 2020)...
Etching, Aquatint
Price Upon Request
Trompe l'oeil, Les Falaises du Trocadéro, 2021 -JR, Set 2, Print, Art, Edition
By JR artist
Located in Zug, CH
JR Trompe l'oeil, Les Falaises du Trocadéro (Set of 2) 2021 Giclée Print Laminated with G-gloss, Mounted on 3mm Dibond 64 × 96 cm (25.2 × 37.8 in) In matching edition numbers In mint...
Lithograph
Price Upon Request
Hi Fi, from American Signs portfolio
Located in New York, NY
ROBERT COTTINGHAM HI FI, from American Signs portfolio, 2009 screenprint in colors, on wove paper, with full margins, 40 1/8 x 39 1/8 in (101.9 x 99.4 cm) signed, dated `2009' a...
Screen
Price Upon Request
Blues, from American Signs portfolio
Located in New York, NY
ROBERT COTTINGHAM Blues, from American Signs portfolio, 2009 screenprint in colors, on wove paper, with full margins, 40 1/8 x 39 1/8 in (101.9 x 99.4 cm) signed, dated `2009' a...
Screen
Price Upon Request
M, from American Signs portfolio
Located in New York, NY
ROBERT COTTINGHAM M, from American Signs portfolio, 2009 screenprint in colors, on wove paper, with full margins, 40 1/8 x 39 1/8 in (101.9 x 99.4 cm) signed, dated `2009' and n...
Price Upon Request
Nite, from American Signs portfolio
Located in New York, NY
ROBERT COTTINGHAM NIte, from American Signs portfolio, 2009 screenprint in colors, on wove paper, with full margins, 40 1/8 x 39 1/8 in (101.9 x 99.4 cm) signed, dated `2009' an...
Screen
Price Upon Request
Rialto, from American Signs portfolio
Located in New York, NY
ROBERT COTTINGHAM Rialto, from American Signs portfolio, 2009 screenprint in colors, on wove paper, with full margins, 40 1/8 x 39 1/8 in (101.9 x 99.4 cm) signed, dated `2009' ...
Screen
Price Upon Request
Drinks, from American Signs portfolio
Located in New York, NY
ROBERT COTTINGHAM Drinks, from American Signs portfolio, 2009 screenprint in colors, on wove paper, with full margins 40 1/8 x 39 1/8 in (101.9 x 99.4 cm) signed, dated `2009...
Screen
Price Upon Request
Hot, from American Signs Portfolio
Located in New York, NY
ROBERT COTTINGHAM Hot, from American Signs Portfolio, 2009 screenprint in colors, on wove paper, with full margins 40 1/8 x 39 1/8 in (101.9 x 99.4 cm) signed, dated `2009' and...
Screen
Price Upon Request
Star, from American Signs Portfolio
Located in New York, NY
ROBERT COTTINGHAM Star, from American Signs portfolio, 2009 screenprint in colors, on wove paper, with full margins, 40 1/8 x 39 1/8 in (101.9 x 99.4 cm) signed, dated `2009' and numbered edition of 100 in pencil -- Robert Cottingham B. 1935, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK Born in 1935 in Brooklyn, Robert Cottingham is known for his paintings and prints of urban American landscapes, particularly building facades, neon signs, movie marquees, and shop fronts. After serving in the U.S. Army from 1955 through 1958, he earned a BFA at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, in 1963. Cottingham began his professional artistic career as an art director for the advertising firm Young and Rubicam in the early 1960s. Although he is typically associated with Photorealism, Cottingham never considered himself a Photorealist, but rather a realist painter working in a long tradition of American vernacular scenes. In this respect, his work often draws parallels to a number of American painters such as Stuart Davis, Charles Demuth, Edward Hopper, and Charles Sheeler. Cottingham’s interest in the intersections of art and commerce derive from his career as an adman and the influence of Pop art. Many of his paintings convey an interest in typography and lettering, as well as an awareness of the psychological impact of certain isolated words and letters. In his facades, techniques from advertising, namely cropping and enlarging, often produce words of enigmatic or comical resonance such as “Art,” “Ha,” or “Oh.” Cottingham’s enlarged sense of scale is reminiscent of James Rosenquist’s work, while his interest in text suggests the influence of Robert Indiana and Jasper Johns. In general, Cottingham viewed his work as continuing the legacy of Pop artists such as Andy Warhol, who also had a background in advertising. In 1964, Cottingham relocated to Los Angeles for work. There, inspired by the drastically different environment of the West Coast metropolis, he began to commit seriously to painting. Fascinated by Hollywood’s exaggerated glitz and the downtrodden atmosphere of the downtown, Cottingham saw in Los Angeles the relics of a bygone commercial heyday and desired to capture its kitschy and uncanny atmosphere, bathed in the near perpetual sunlight of Southern California. In 1968, Cottingham ended his advertising career in order to devote all his time to painting. In the late 1960s, he started using photography in his practice, first as an initial reference point for his process. After selecting a photograph, he translates it into black-and-white drawings by projecting the image onto gridded paper...
Screen