C. Ronald Bechtle’s life’s work was creating art that he believed could make a difference. To him it was a serious endeavor, not entertainment or a business…
About the Artist
C. Ronald Bechtle was born on November 14, 1924 in Philadelphia, PA. He was mostly raised by his grandfather and was educated within the Philadelphia Public School system. He began painting in 1933 at the age of nine and quickly developed a passion for art that took precedence over everything, including his school work. After serving in the Army Air Force, Bechtle studied painting briefly at Eastern Tennessee University and then in Philadelphia at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and Architecture, the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the School of Industrial Art (now the University of the Arts). In addition Bechtle studied with Benton Spruance from 1952 - 1957. He worked as an industrial engineer, cost estimator, and design consultant for the Philco / Ford Corporation, but devoted hours of every day to art.
Bechtle’s early paintings, all in oil, were mostly figurative works, and many included depictions of city dwellers in street scenes in Philadelphia. In around 1950, he transitioned from figurative work done in mostly dark palettes to abstract compositions in brighter colors. In the 1960s he began to focus on watercolor, exploring materials and chance effects. In addition to painting, Bechtle was constantly sketching and, even while traveling, dedicated time to his art everyday .
Bechtle married Jenny Manchur in 1951 and they had two children, Reid (1952) and Janet (1954). Jenny passed away in 1962 and his children went to live with their maternal grandparents. The artist was remarried in 1965 to Isabel Korkmazian and they were together for the remainder of their lives.
Bechtle can be aptly described as a poet painter who used his art to attain spiritual growth. He was a sensitive and perceptive observer of the human situation and was able to create within his work the pattern of a new order from which others could learn.
C. Ronald Bechtle created from a framework of Artistic Intentions which evolved over the course of his life…
it was OK to be inconsistent.
C. Ronald Bechtle helped found an artist collective called the Philadelphia Abstract Artists, which focused on internal critiques of artwork and exhibiting. He was director of the group from 1957 to 1962 and participated in all its exhibitions through 1969. He was previously a member and President of the collective Group '55 until he became dissatisfied with the organization and left to form Philadelphia Abstract Artists.
In about 1962, Bechtle became disillusioned with the movement towards pop art, and what he perceived to be an increasing focus on sales and sales prices. He saw this as an unacceptable commercialization of art, which he found distressing. As a result, he gradually withdrew from exhibiting and selling art.
At around the same time, with the death of his wife and ensuing family disruption, Bechtle stepped away from his formal involvement with the Philadelphia Abstract Artists. Nonetheless, he remained dedicated to the principle that painting is a way of life and continued to paint for another 45 years.
Bechtle was described as analytic and cerebral in his approach to painting. He was well organized, well read, and thoughtful. He loved poetry, art and being in Seal Harbor, Maine where he painted for most of the year beginning in the mid 1960’s. He was interested in placing contemporary art in the context of art history. He took his own direction in the modern art world. He was so dedicated to his vision of painting that he devoted his life to it even after he stopped exhibiting and selling his work.
The art collectives, Group 55 and the Philadelphia Abstract Artists, made a major impact on the art world as well as forming a center of gravity for abstract art. Bechtle helped raise the level of discussion aiming to demonstrate that abstract art is a force to be reckoned with.
His papers are held in the Smithsonian’s Archive of American Art.
Below: Click to view full-size versions
Note from Reid Bechtle
This site is dedicated to my father, C. Ronald Bechtle, who spent his entire life following his true passion — painting. He was a complex person — in some ways unknowable — even for those of us close to him. He was a good man, though one with demons and struggles, which complicated his life, and which I believe are reflected in some of his works.
My father was born in Philadelphia Pennsylvania in 1924. He began painting while in elementary school and produced a portrait of George Washington at the age of 9. He continued until 2007, when painting became impossible due to his progressing memory deterioration. He passed away in 2014.
Oil paint was my father’s medium of choice until the late 1950’s when he transitioned to watercolor.
My father was a very accomplished artist, though little is known about him today. He stopped exhibiting his works in the 1960’s when he felt the art world was becoming too commercialized, and retreated to his studios in Connecticut and Maine to paint. He was never focused on art sales, preferring instead to give his works away to museums, educational institutions and a limited number of passionate collectors of abstract modern art.
I have come to understand my father much better as I go through his papers and photographs and while I inventory his life’s work. Most of his work is in my possession today. Each painting tells a story, reveals a mood and peels back a bit of the curtain behind which my father lived for most of his life.
Like the children of many artists I have become the keeper of my fathers life’s work. This brings with it both a responsibility and a challenge. I will do my very best to find proper homes for his artwork in the years ahead.
– Reid Bechtle
Permanent Collections
If you are a Museum or Educational Institution that has an interest in obtaining the artwork of C. Ronald Bechtle for your permanent collection, please contact me directly. All original works are provided at no cost to selected institutions.
The Art of C. Ronald Bechtle
The art of C. Ronald Bechtle evolved throughout his 80 years as an artist. His early years from the 1930’s through 1954 focused on figurative art. From late 1954 forward his full attention was to abstract art which as far as can be seen was sparked by the abstract expressionists of the New York School. During the 1950’s he became involved with Group 55, an artists group started by Sam Feinstein in Philadelphia. Group 55 was a progressive group for its time and included artists who studied under Hans Hofmann and Arthur B. Carles. Both Hofmann and Carles were instrumental to the abstract expressionist movement as well as having a strong influence on the work of Bechtle. Bechtle went on to form the Philadelphia Abstract Artists group in 1957.
Bechtle was a regular visitor to New York City in the 1950’s and spent time at the 8th Street Club where he met and interacted with a broad range of artists. The impact of Willem De Kooning, Franz Kline, Arshile Gorky, Clyfford Still and Helen Frankenthaler, as well as others can be seen in the works of Bechtle. Some of his works reflect the free associative gestures one sees in the action paintings of Jackson Pollack while at times the more deliberate approach taken by Wassily Kandinsky and Adolph Gottlieb take shape.
The influences of Marcel Duchamp, Paul Klee and Francisco Goya can also be seen as the work of Bechtle evolves and changes over his 80 years as an artist. Bechtle studied and learned from a wide range of artists but created his own distinctive style. Like all accomplished artists Bechtle’s work was unique among both his contemporaries as well as those that came before and after him.
C. Ronald Bechtle is a respected historical post war artist who remains to a large degree undiscovered.