Wayne Thiebaud | |
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| Born | Morton Wayne Thiebaud[1] (1920-11-15)November 15, 1920 Mesa, Arizona, U.S. |
| Died | December 25, 2021(2021-12-25) (aged 101) Sacramento, California, U.S. |
| Education | Sacramento State College San Jose State College Sacramento State |
| Known for | Painting,printmaking |
| Movement | Pop Art,New Realism,Bay Area Figurative Movement |
| Children |
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| Awards | National Medal of Arts (1994) |
Wayne Thiebaud (/ˈtiːboʊ/TEE-boh; born Morton Wayne Thiebaud; November 15, 1920 – December 25, 2021) was an American painter known for his colorful works depicting commonplace objects—pies, cakes, lipsticks, paint cans, ice cream cones, pastries, and hot dogs—as well as for his landscapes andfigure paintings.[3][4] Thiebaud is regarded as one of the United States' most beloved and recognizable artists.[5] Thiebaud is associated with thepop art movement because of his interest in objects ofmass culture, though he slightly predated the classic pop artists, producing his early works of this style in the fifties and sixties.[6] Thiebaud used heavypigment and exaggerated colors to depict his subjects, his work almost always including the well-defined shadows characteristic of advertisements.[7]
Thiebaud was born to Alice Eugenia (Le Baron) and Morton Thiebaud inMesa, Arizona.[8][9] They moved a year later to southern California where the family lived for most of Thiebaud's childhood until he graduated from secondary school inLong Beach, California.[10] Thiebaud and his family were members ofthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his father was a bishop in the church when Thiebaud was a teenager.[8] Morton was also aFord mechanic, foreman at Gold Medal Creamery, traffic safety supervisor, and real estate agent.[8]
One summer during his first school years, he apprenticed atWalt Disney Studios[11] drawing "in-betweens" ofGoofy,Pinocchio, andJiminy Cricket at a rate of $14 a week.[12] The next summer, he studied at theFrank Wiggins Trade School in Los Angeles. From 1938 to 1949, he worked as a cartoonist and designer in California and New York City. He served as an artist in theFirst Motion Picture Unit of theUnited States Army Air Forces from 1942 to 1945.[13]
In 1949, he enrolled at San Jose State College (nowSan José State University) before transferring to Sacramento State College (nowCalifornia State University, Sacramento), where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1951 and a master's degree in 1952.[14]
Thiebaud subsequently began teaching atSacramento City College.[14] In 1960, he became assistant professor at theUniversity of California, Davis, where he taught for 42 years and influenced numerous art and design students. He held aProfessor Emeritus title there up until his death in late 2021. He retired from U.C. Davis in 1990, but continued to teach on an unpaid basis until 2002.
On a leave of absence during 1956–57, he spent time in New York City, where he became friends withElaine andWillem de Kooning[10] andFranz Kline, and was much influenced by these abstractionists as well as by proto-pop artistsRobert Rauschenberg andJasper Johns. During this time, he began a series of very small paintings based on images of food displayed in windows, and he focused on their basic shapes.
Returning to California, he pursued this subject matter and style, isolating triangles, circles, squares, etc. He also co-founded the Artists Cooperative Gallery, now Artists Contemporary Gallery, and other cooperatives including Pond Farm, having been exposed to the concept of cooperatives in New York.[15]
In 1960, he had his first solo show in San Francisco at theSan Francisco Museum of Modern Art,[16] and shows in New York City at the Staempfli and Tanager galleries. These shows received little notice, but two years later, a 1962Sidney Janis Gallery exhibition in New York officially launchedPop Art, bringing Thiebaud national recognition, although he disclaimed being anything other than a painter of illusionistic form.
In 1961, Thiebaud met and became friends with art dealerAllan Stone (1932–2006), the man who gave him his first "break."[13] Stone was Thiebaud's dealer until Stone's death in 2006.[17] Stone said of Thiebaud "I have had the pleasure of friendship with a complex and talented man, a terrific teacher and cook, the best raconteur in the west with a spin serve, and a great painter whose magical touch is exceeded only by his genuine modesty and humility. Thiebaud's dedication to painting and his pursuit of excellence inspire all who are lucky enough to come in contact with him. He is a very special man."[18] After Stone's death, Thiebaud's sonPaul Thiebaud (1960–2010) took over as his dealer.Paul Thiebaud was a successful art dealer in his own right and had eponymous galleries in Manhattan and San Francisco; he died June 19, 2010.
In 1962, Thiebaud's work was included, along withRoy Lichtenstein,Andy Warhol,Jim Dine,Phillip Hefferton,Joe Goode,Edward Ruscha, andRobert Dowd, in the historically important and ground-breaking "New Painting of Common Objects," curated byWalter Hopps at the Pasadena Art Museum (now theNorton Simon Museum at Pasadena).[19] This exhibition is considered to have been one of the firstPop Art exhibitions in the United States. These painters were part of a new movement, in a time of social unrest, which shocked the United States and the art world.
In 1963, he turned increasingly to figure painting: wooden and rigid, with each detail sharply emphasized. In 1964, he made his first prints atCrown Point Press, and continued to make prints throughout his career. In 1967, his work was shown at the Biennale Internationale.
Thiebaud was married twice. With his first wife, Patricia Patterson, he had two children, one of whom is the model and writerTwinka Thiebaud.[20] With his second wife, Betty Jean Carr, he had a son,Paul LeBaron Thiebaud, who became an art dealer. He also adopted Betty's son, Matthew.[21]
He died at his residence inSacramento, California on Christmas Day 2021, at age 101.[22][23]
Thiebaud is well known for his paintings ofproduction line objects found indiners andcafeterias, such as pies and pastries. As a young man in Long Beach, he worked at a cafe namedMile High and Red Hot, where "Mile High" wasice cream and "Red Hot" was ahot dog.[24]
He was associated with thePop art painters because of his interest in objects ofmass culture; however, his works, executed during the 1950s and 1960s, slightly predate the works of the classic pop artists, suggesting that Thiebaud may have had an influence on the movement. Thiebaud employed heavypigment and exaggerated colors to depict his subjects, and the well-defined shadows characteristic of advertisements are almost always included in his work.[11] Thiebaud was averse to labels such as "fine art" versus "commercial art" and described himself as "just an old-fashioned painter".[25] He dislikedAndy Warhol's "flat" and "mechanical" paintings and did not consider himself a pop artist.[26][27]
In addition to pastries, Thiebaud painted characters such asMickey Mouse as well as landscapes, streetscapes, and cityscapes, which were influenced by the work ofRichard Diebenkorn.[28] His paintings such asSunset Streets (1985) andFlatland River (1997) are noted for their hyper realism, and have been compared toEdward Hopper's work, another artist who was fascinated with mundane scenes from everyday American life.[28]
Thiebaud's works are in permanent collections at theLos Angeles County Museum of Art, theCrocker Art Museum, and theWhitney Museum of American Art. TheHirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, theAlbright-Knox Art Gallery, theSan Francisco Museum of Modern Art, theAlbrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, and thePhoenix Art Museum have also held works by the artist.[32] Exhibitions featuring Thiebaud include a 2001 retrospective at the Whitney Museum,[33] a 2012 retrospective atAcquavella Galleries,[32] and a 2021 retrospective at theToledo Museum of Art.[34]
The Crocker has hosted a Thiebaud exhibition every decade since 1951,[35] including "Wayne Thiebaud 100" to honor the artist's 100th birthday in 2020.[36]
In 2025, theSan Francisco Legion of Honor, exhibited his work in "Wayne Thiebaud: Art Comes From Art."[37][38] In the same year, theCourtauld Gallery, London, staged his first ever UK museum show,American Still Life.[39]
In 1987, Thiebaud was awarded the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement.[40] On October 14, 1994, Thiebaud was presented with theNational Medal of Arts by PresidentClinton.[41] In 2009, he was honored by California Lawyers for the Arts with its Artistic License Award at its annual gala celebration. He also received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Art from the American Academy of Design in 2001.[32] Thiebaud was inducted into theCalifornia Hall of Fame in 2010 at theCalifornia Museum, Sacramento,[32] and in 2013, he was honored with the California Art Award in recognition of his part in raising the prominence of California art around the world.[42]
In November 2019,Sotheby's $8.46 million sale of Thiebaud's 2011 paintingEncased Cakes set an auction record for the artist.[43] This record was broken in July 2020, when his 1962 paintingFour Pinball Machines sold for $19,135,000 in New York City at aChristie's global live auction event.[44]
One of Thiebaud's students from Sacramento City College was the artistFritz Scholder (1937–2005), who went on to become a major influence in the direction of American Indian art through his instruction at theInstitute of American Indian Arts inSanta Fe, New Mexico (1964–1969). The painterMel Ramos (1935–2018), considered Thiebaud his mentor.[45] Among his pupils were the paintersFaith Bromberg,[46]Vonn Cummings Sumner,[47] andChristopher Brown.[48]
Sharon Core is a photographer known for her photographic interpretations of Thiebaud's works.[49]
