William Scott, Composition (detail), 1959, gouache and pencil on paper, 28 x 38 cm / 11 x 15 in. ©William Scott Foundation 2014
British Invasion
British Invasion, which runs through February 18, 2015, is a representation of British art found principally in the Bechtler collection from the 1950s through the 1970s. The works include prints, drawings, sculpture and paintings.
The exhibition comprises 56 works by 11 artists: Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson, Bridget Riley, Lynn Chadwick, Barbara Hepworth, David Hockney, Alan Davie, Rodney Gladwell, Bernard Meadows, Victor Pasmore and William Scott.
More so than anything, the British Invasion exhibition reinforces the notion that the Bechtlers collected the art they liked and were not impressed by what was considered mainstream and acceptable. The family’s interest in art ran an unusually wide aesthetic spectrum. They showed an appetite for multiple stylistic inquiries from realistic to abstract. British Invasion exemplifies how the Bechtlers purchased works by some of the most current artists of the era while also collecting master works by established figures.
