When I saw Telephone Booths by Richard Estes,
I was sure it was a photograph. But in
fact it's an oil painting on masonite.
All seven of the following oil paintings have an uncanny resemblance to
photographs, with probably the painting of the Powell Street cable car in
Richard Estes
""I think the
popular concept of the artist is a person who has this great passion and
enthusiasm and super emotion. He just throws himself into this great
masterpiece and collapses from exhaustion when it's finished. It's really not
that way at all. Usually it's a pretty calculated, sustained, and slow process
by which you develop something. The effect can be one of spontaneity, but
that's part of the artistry. An actor can do a play on Broadway for three
years. Every night he's expressing the same emotion in exactly the same way. He
has developed a technique to convey those feelings so that he can get the ideas
across. Or a musician may not want to play that damn music at all, but he has a
booking and has to do it. I think the real test is to plan something and be
able to carry it out to the very end. Not that you're always enthusiastic; it's
just that you have to get this thing out. It's not done with one's emotions;
it's done with the head." Richard Estes
Four Portraits of
Telephone Booths (1968)
Drugs (1970)
Supreme Hardware (1974)
Central Savings (1975)
And, Three Portraits of
View From Twin Peaks (1990)
Telegraph Hill From Broadway and Filbert (1990)
Powell Street Cable Car (1993)
Acknowledgement: The words in quotations in the text above, and all of the images, are courtesy of the artist, Marlborough Gallery in New York City, and artnet's Artist Works Catalogues. At its AWC, there is this: "artnet offers these catalogues free to the public as an educational resource. Simply click on an individual artist's image to begin, and check back often to browse new catalogues."
