Wayne Thiebaud (born November 15, 1920) began his career working as a sign-painter, illustrator, and cartoonist in New York and Hollywood. Associated with Pop Art and as a predecessor of photorealism, Thiebaud found his signature style with brightly colored still-life paintings of food and other objects, shown against neutral backgrounds.
Wayne Thiebaud (1920 - )
Born in 1920 in Mesa, Arizona, Wayne Thiebaud worked as a sign painter, cartoonist, commercial artist and publicity manager before serving in the Army air force in the mid-1940’s. After the Army,
Thiebaud studied at Cal State University, Sacramento and the California School of Arts and Crafts. From 1950 until 1959, he served as and exhibit designer for the annual art exhibitions at the California State Fair and Exposition, Sacramento and also taught studio art and art history at Sacramento City College. In 1951, his first one-man show, Influences on a Young Painter, was presented at the Crocker Art Gallery in Sacramento. Thiebaud began painting the still lifes of pies, cakes and other objects, which would become the defining images of his career in the early 1960’s. His work has since been exhibited at major museums and galleries throughout the world. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1985.
To follow is an excerpt from the essay “Wayne Thiebaud: Observations and Memories” by George W. Neubert, Director, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery at the University of Nebraska. The essay was published in the catalogue accompanying the exhibition “The Prints of Wayne Thiebaud”, 1992, at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery.
“Printmaking as a medium has occupied an important part of Thiebaud’s artistic expression throughout his career. His early experience as an illustrator and set designer provided a knowledge and understanding of commercial techniques of graphic communication. However, it was his work with the master printer Kathan Brown at Crown Point Press that produced the impressive portfolio Delights. The processes used in this portfolio were primarily limited to drypoint, with some use of aquatint; nonetheless, Thiebaud created a tour de force that early on reflected his extraordinary abilities as a draughtsman and printmaker.
The small-scaled prints in the Delights portfolio are dominated by the still-life images of food stuff and delicatessen displays, with sharp shadows often viewed from elevated angles. As a result, conters and table tops seem to become stages. The formal Quality; the simplification of form and shapes; and the dramatic linear quality of etched lines and tones with the rich blacks and highkeyed light and shadows are remiscent of the authenticity and mastery of the etchings of the Italian painter Giorgio Morandi.”
Wayne Thiebaud
1920 Born, Mesa, Arizona
1950-51 Bachelor of Arts, California State University
1951-53 Master of Arts, California State University
1972 Honorary Doctorate, California College of Art and Crafts, San Francisco, CA
1983 Honorary Doctorate, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA
1988 Honorary Doctorate, San Francisco Art Institute, CA
1994 National Medal for Arts Presidential Award, from President Clinton
Selected Exhibitions
2000-01 Wayne Thiebaud, Prints, Nohra Haime Gallery, New York, NY
1999 The American Century: Art and Culture, 1900-2000, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1997 Thirty-Five Years at Crown Point Press: Making Prints, Doing Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
1992 Hand-Painted Pop: American Art in Transition 1955-62, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
1986 Wayne Thiebaud: 25th Anniversary Exhibition, Allan Stone Gallery, New York, NY
1978 Wayne Thiebaud: Recent Work, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA
1968 Wayne Thiebaud Graphics: 1964-1971, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1967 United States Representative, Sao Paulo Bienal, Brazil
1962 Wayne Thiebaud: Recent Paintings, Allan Stone Gallery, New York, NY
1961 1961 Northern California Painters’ Annual, Oakland Art Museum, Oakland, CA
1951 Influences on a Young Painter, E.B. Crocker Art Gallery, CA
1949 Artists under Thirty-three, E.B. Crocker Art Gallery, CA
1948 Artists of Los Angeles and Vicinity, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Public Collections
Poses Institute of Art, Brandies University, Waltham, MA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
Myra Morgan Gallery, Shawnee Mission, KS
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, KS
University of Southern Illinois, Carbondale, IL
Aldrick Museum of Contemporary Art, Richfield, CT
Standford University, Stanford, CA
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT
Shasta College, Shasta, CA
San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum of Fine Art, Kansas City, MO
Albrecht Museum, St. Joseph, MO
Nebraska Art Association, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
St. Louis Museum of Art, St. Louis, MO
Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ
The New Milwaukee Art Center Museum, Milwaukee, WI
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Miwaukee Institute of Art, Miwaukee, WI
Gallery of Modern Art, Washington, D.C.
Library of Congress, Prints and Photography Division, Washington, D.C.
Museum of Modern Art, Washington, D.C.
Utah Museum of Fine Art, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Texas Institute of Contemporary Art, Dallas, TX
Fort Worth Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX
Albright-Knox Museum, The Buffalo Academy of Fine Arts, Buffalo, NY
American Broadcasting Company, New York, NY
Art Investments Ltd., Houston, TX
Collectors' Cooperative, Houston, TX
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA
Contemporary Arts Association, Houston, TX
Menil Foundation, Houston, TX
Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
University of St. Thomas, Houston, TX
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH
New York Studio School, New York, NY
Hanford Yang Foundation, New York, NY
Links
Wayne Thiebaud -Everyday Enchantment- NY Sun
Wayne Thiebaud @ SFMOMA
Wayne Thiebaud -Unconventional Confections- Daily Press
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