Untitled (Car #22)

After training at the Art Institute of Chicago (1952-56), Richard Estes created New York City street scenes painted directly from his own snapshots. Estes uses several shots of the same scene under different lighting conditions (sun, clouds, rain) and different focus settings, for he feels that neither the human eye nor the camera is exactly “right.” The results of this process are his meticulous, coolly detached glimpses of contemporary urban civilization. He particularly delights in depicting highly reflective surfaces, such as glass and chrome, and the distortions they produce. This work also presents the viewer with an iconic emblem of American culture: the automobile. The results of his investigations have led him to be included in the so-called Photo-Realism movement, although his clearly visible brushwork of strong strokes and defined edges separates him distinctly from others in this movement, such as Tom Blackwell, Don Eddy, and Richard Cottingham. (From “A Handbook of the Collection: Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art,” 1998)