Agua Caliente Nova
Robert Bechtle
American, 1932 – 2020
Details
Title
Agua Caliente Nova
Artist/Maker
Robert Bechtle (American, 1932 – 2020)
Date
1975
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
48 x 69 1/2 inches
Credit
Purchase with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ray M. and Mary Elizabeth Lee Foundation
Accession #
1978.1
Location
Currently not on view
In honor of the American Bicentennial in 1975, forty-five American artists were commissioned by the Department of the Interior to depict the American landscape. Here Robert Bechtle shows the desert canyon of the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation near Palm Springs, California, as an incidental backdrop for the view of a Chevrolet Nova, the artist’s wife, and his children. This typical tourist’s snapshot maintains an aura of both tangible familiarity and painterly precision. Bechtle relishes opportunities to explore the mundane, revealing the delicate balance found in the universe of cars, streets, houses, and sidewalks in his hyper-realistic paintings.
Image Copyright
© (c) Robert Bechtle