Morton Wayne Thiebaud ( ; November 15, 1920 – December 25, 2021) was an American painter known for his colorful works depicting commonplace objects—pies, lipsticks, paint cans, ice cream cones, pastries, and hot dogs—as well as for his landscapes and figure paintings. Thiebaud is associated with the pop art movement because of his interest in objects of

mass culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...

, although his early works, executed during the fifties and sixties, slightly predate the works of the classic pop artists. Thiebaud used heavy

pigment A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compo ...

and exaggerated colors to depict his subjects, and the well-defined shadows characteristic of advertisements are almost always included in his work.

Early life and education

Thiebaud was born to Alice Eugenia (Le Baron) and Morton Thiebaud in

Mesa, Arizona Mesa ( ) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is the most populous city in the East Valley (Phoenix metropolitan area), East Valley section of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It is bordered by ...

.Kuz, Martin
"Wayne Thiebaud "
''

Sactown Magazine ''Sactown Magazine'' is a bimonthly publication reporting on the cultural offerings of Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , ...

'', October 2010. Retrieved on March 15, 2020. They moved a year later to

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

where the family lived for most of Thiebaud's childhood until he graduated from secondary school in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

. Thiebaud and his family were members of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

, and his father was a bishop in the church when Thiebaud was a teenager. Morton was also a Ford mechanic, foreman at Gold Medal Creamery, traffic safety supervisor, and real estate agent. One summer during his high school years, he apprenticed at Walt Disney Studios The next summer, he studied at the Frank Wiggins Trade School in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. From 1938 to 1949, he worked as a cartoonist and designer in California and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He served as an artist in the First Motion Picture Unit of the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

from 1942 to 1945. In 1949, he enrolled at San Jose State College (now San José State University) before transferring to Sacramento State College (now California State University, Sacramento), where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1951 and a master's degree in 1952.

Career

Thiebaud subsequently began teaching at Sacramento City College. In 1960, he became assistant professor at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

, where he remained through 1991 and influenced numerous art students. He held a

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

title there up until his death in late 2021. Occasionally, he gave

pro bono ( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...

lectures at U.C. Davis. On a leave of absence during 1956–57, he spent time in

, where he became friends with Elaine and Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline, and was much influenced by these abstractionists as well as by proto-pop artists

Robert Rauschenberg Milton Ernest "Robert" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combines (1954–1964), a group of artwor ...

and Jasper 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. In 1960, he had his first solo show in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

at the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...

, and shows in

at the Staempfli and Tanager galleries. These shows received little notice, but two years later, a 1962 Sidney Janis Gallery exhibition in New York officially launched Pop 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 dealer Allan Stone (1932–2006), the man who gave him his first "break." Stone was Thiebaud's dealer until Stone's death in 2006. 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." After Stone's death, Thiebaud's son Paul 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 with

Roy Lichtenstein Roy Fox Lichtenstein (; October 27, 1923 – September 29, 1997) was an American pop artist. During the 1960s, along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and James Rosenquist among others, he became a leading figure in the new art movement. Hi ...

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

, Jim Dine,

Phillip Hefferton Phillip Hefferton (July 25, 1933 – April 2, 2008) was an American pop artist from Detroit, Michigan, known for his paintings of banknotes. Artist In 1958-9 he began drawing "common objects". In 1960 his work was featured in an '' Art in Ameri ...

Joe Goode Joe Goode (born 1937) is an American artist who attended the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles from 1959–1961. Originally born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Goode made a name for himself in Los Angeles through his cloud imagery and milk bot ...

, Edward Ruscha, and Robert Dowd, in the historically important and ground-breaking "

New Painting of Common Objects The exhibition "New Painting of Common Objects" at the Pasadena Art Museum in 1962 was the first museum survey of American pop art. The eight artists included were: Roy Lichtenstein, Jim Dine, Andy Warhol, Phillip Hefferton, Robert Dowd, Edward ...

," curated by Walter Hopps at the Pasadena Art Museum (now the Norton Simon Museum at Pasadena). This exhibition is considered to have been one of the first Pop 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 at

Crown Point Press Crown Point Press is a long-established printmaking workshop, primarily creating and publishing etched, intaglio prints. Located in San Francisco since 1986, Crown Point Press was first established in 1962 in Richmond California by Kathan Brown. ...

, and continued to make prints throughout his career. In 1967, his work was shown at the Biennale Internationale.

Personal life and death

Thiebaud was married twice. With his first wife, Patricia Patterson, he had two children, one of whom is the model and writer

Twinka Thiebaud Twinka Thiebaud (born December 9, 1945) is an American model who has posed for many of the most important photographers of the 20th century. A photograph by Judy Dater depicting Thiebaud, ''Imogen and Twinka at Yosemite'', is considered among the ...

. 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. He died at his residence in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

on Christmas Day 2021, at the age of 101.

Work

Thiebaud is well known for his paintings of

production line A production line is a set of sequential operations established in a factory where components are assembled to make a finished article or where materials are put through a refining process to produce an end-product that is suitable for onward c ...

objects found in

diner A diner is a small, inexpensive restaurant found across the United States, as well as in Canada and parts of Western Europe. Diners offer a wide range of foods, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a com ...

s and

cafeteria A cafeteria, sometimes called a canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school ...

s, such as pies and pastries. As a young man in Long Beach, he worked at a cafe named ''Mile High and Red Hot'', where "Mile High" was

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as str ...

and "Red Hot" was a hot dog. He was associated with the Pop art painters because of his interest in objects of

; 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 heavy

and exaggerated colors to depict his subjects, and the well-defined shadows characteristic of advertisements are almost always included in his work. Thiebaud was averse to labels such as "fine art" versus "commercial art" and described himself as "just an old-fashioned painter". He disliked

's "flat" and "mechanical" paintings and did not consider himself a pop artist. In addition to pastries, Thiebaud painted characters such as

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

as well as

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

s, streetscapes, and cityscapes, which were influenced by the work of Richard Diebenkorn. His paintings such as ''Sunset Streets'' (1985) and ''Flatland River'' (1997) are noted for their hyper realism, and have been compared to Edward Hopper's work, another artist who was fascinated with mundane scenes from everyday American life.

Notable works

*1961 ''Drink Syrups'' *1961 ''Pies, Pies, Pies'' *1962 ''Around the Cake'' *1962 ''Bakery Counter'' *1962 ''Confections'' *1962 ''Candy Machine'' *1963 ''Display Cakes'' *1963 ''Cakes'' *1963 ''Girl with Ice Cream Cone'' *1964 ''Three Strawberry Shakes'' *1964 ''Eight Lipsticks'' *1964 ''Man Sitting – Back View'' *1964 ''Lemon Cake'' *1966 ''Powder With Puff'' *1968 ''Coloma Ridge'' *1968 ''Sandwich'' *1970 ''Seven Suckers'' *1971 ''Four Cupcakes'' *1975 ''Shoe Rows'' *1976 ''Potrero Hill'' *1977 ''24th Street Intersection'' *1981 ''Hill Street (Day City)'' *1987 ''Two Paint Cans'' *1991 ''The Three Cows'' *1992 ''Thirteen Books'' *1993 ''Apartment View'' *1993 ''Coastline'' ( California Arts Council specialty license plate) *1996 ''Farm Channel'' *1999 ''Reservoir'' *2000 ''Clown Cones'' *2002 ''Jolly Cones (Ice Cream Cones)'' *2008 ''Three Ice cream Cones'' *2010 ''The Google 12th Birthday Cake'' *2010 ''Tulip Sundae''

Collections and exhibitions

Thiebaud's works are in permanent collections at the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

, the

Crocker Art Museum The Crocker Art Museum is the oldest art museum in the Western United States, located in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1885, the museum holds one of the premier collections of Californian art. The collection includes American works dating f ...

, and the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

. The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the

, and the

Phoenix Art Museum The Phoenix Art Museum is the largest museum for visual art in the southwest United States. Located in Phoenix, Arizona, the museum is . It displays international exhibitions alongside its comprehensive collection of more than 18,000 works of ...

have also held works by the artist. Exhibitions featuring Thiebaud include a 2001 retrospective at the Whitney Museum, a 2012 retrospective at

Acquavella Galleries Acquavella Galleries is an art gallery located at 18 East 79th Street between Madison and Fifth Avenues in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. History Acquavella Galleries was founded at 598 Madison Avenue in 1921 b ...

, and a 2021 retrospective at the Toledo Museum of Art. The Crocker has hosted a Thiebaud exhibition every decade since 1951, including "Wayne Thiebaud 100" to honor the artist's 100th birthday in 2020.

Recognition

In 1987, Thiebaud was awarded the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. On October 14, 1994, Thiebaud was presented with the

National Medal of Arts The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and Patronage, patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and ar ...

by President

Clinton Clinton is an English toponymic surname, indicating one's ancestors came from English places called Glympton or Glinton.Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1988 Clinton has frequently been used as a given ...

. 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. Thiebaud was inducted into the

California Hall of Fame The California Hall of Fame honors individuals and families who embody California's innovative spirit and have made their mark on history. The hall and its exhibits are housed in The California Museum in Sacramento. The hall of fame was conceived ...

in 2010 at the

California Museum The California Museum is the List of U.S. state historical societies and museums, state history museum of California, located in its capital city of Sacramento. It is dedicated to Californian history and the stories of California. The museum is ...

, Sacramento, 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.

Auction records

In November 2019,

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...

$8.46 million sale of Thiebaud's 2011 painting ''Encased Cakes'' set an auction record for the artist. This record was broken in July 2020, when his 1962 painting ''Four Pinball Machines'' sold for $19,135,000 in New York City at a

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

global live auction event.

Influences

One of Thiebaud's students from Sacramento City College was the artist

Fritz Scholder Fritz William Scholder V (October 6, 1937 – February 10, 2005) was a Native American artist. Scholder was an enrolled member of the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians, a federally recognized tribe of Luiseños, a California Mission tribe. Schold ...

(1937–2005), who went on to become a major influence in the direction of American Indian art through his instruction at the

Institute of American Indian Arts The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is a public tribal land-grant college in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The college focuses on Native American art. It operates the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), which is housed in the historic S ...

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label=Tiwa language, Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. ...

(1964–1969). The painter

Mel Ramos Melvin John Ramos (July 24, 1935 – October 14, 2018) was an American figurative painter, specializing most often in paintings of female nudes, whose work incorporates elements of realist and abstract art. Born in Sacramento, California, to ...

(1935–2018), considered Thiebaud his mentor. Among his pupils were the painters

Faith Bromberg Faith Bromberg (1919– June 19, 1990) was an American painter active within the feminist art movement. Her work often featured figurative paintings in mixed mediums. Biography Born in Los Angeles in 1919. Bromberg attended Sacramento Junior Col ...

Vonn Cummings Sumner Vonn Cummings Sumner (born 1976 in Palo Alto, California) is an internationally exhibited American painter. He received his Bachelor of Arts, in 1998 and Master of Fine Arts, Painting in 2000, both from the University of California, Davis, where ...

, and Christopher Brown.

Sharon Core Sharon Core (born 1965) is an American artist and photographer. Core first gained recognition with her ''Thiebauds'' series (2003-4) in which she created photographic interpretations of American painter Wayne Thiebaud's renderings of food. Two of ...

is a photographer known for her photographic interpretations of Thiebaud's works.

References

Books

* Nash, Steven A.; ''Wayne Thiebaud Paintings: A Retrospective'' (Thames Hudson, 2000) * Baker, Kenneth; Fox Weber, Nicholas; ''Wayne Thiebaud'' (Rizzoli, 2022) * Rubin, Susan; ''Life and Art of Wayne Thiebaud'' (Chronicle Press, 2008) * Shields, Scott; ''Wayne Thiebaud 100: Paintings, Prints, and Drawings'' (Pomegranate, 2020) * Thiebaud, Wayne; Williams, LG; Cooper, Gene; ''Wayne Thiebaud Lectures on Art and Drawing'' (PCP Press, 2018)

External links

Wayne Thiebaud at the National Gallery of ArtWayne Thiebaud papers
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Interview with Wayne Thiebaud, May 17-18, 2001
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Wayne Thiebaud in the National Gallery of Australia's Kenneth Tyler Collection
* ''Seeing America'' video discussion o
Wayne Thiebaud's ''Ponds and Streams'' (2001)
featuring Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco curator Dr. Lauren Palmor and Dr. Stephen Zucker of Smarthistory YouTube channel
Wayne Thiebaud Biography and Interview with American Academy of Achievement

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thiebaud, Wayne 1920 births 2021 deaths Painters from Arizona Painters from California San Jose State University alumni California State University, Sacramento alumni Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters United States National Medal of Arts recipients People from Long Beach, California People from Mesa, Arizona American pop artists American still life painters University of California, Davis faculty American Latter Day Saints First Motion Picture Unit personnel 20th-century American painters American male painters American centenarians 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists 20th-century American printmakers United States Army Air Forces soldiers Men centenarians 20th-century American male artists