Wayne thiebaud biography early life
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The overlapping cakes and their shadows create a tight, gridded composition that feels static, and yet the thin cake stands hardly seem capable of holding up the sumptuously decorated cakes, threatening the possibility of toppled pastries. The first, Twinka, was born in 1945 and the second, Mallary Ann, in 1951.
After the war, Thiebaud returned to his work as a commercial artist.
One possible reading, inspired by Thiebaud's experience of growing up during the Great Depression, is that the bakery case instantiates the unattainable. Gold and pink striped fields somehow keep their terrestrial reality, despite the celestial colors, because he puts so much exactitude into the drawing that underpins every work." Others have offered a more sinister interpretation - suggesting that the painting represents the teetering and imminent toppling of the American Dream.
Oil and acrylic on canvas - Collection of the artist
Biography of Wayne Thiebaud
Childhood
Wayne Thiebaud was born in Mesa, Arizona in 1920.
In a sense, Thiebaud kept his cartoonist ways, even though his artwork wouldn’t be considered “cartoonish.”
The Legacy of Wayne Thiebaud
Thiebaud never achieved the same level of notoriety as his fellow Pop Art contemporaries, but his work still left an indelible mark on the art community.
His pieces illustrated the fact that art doesn’t have to be fancy or luxurious to be compelling and inspiring.
Even something as simple as a stack of cakes can feed the senses, even though it’s something no one would take a second look at in real life.
What sets Thiebaud apart is how art was both his passion and his second life.
These also suggest some accessible resources for further research, especially ones that can be found and purchased via the internet.
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Wayne Thiebaud – Biography, Artistic Movement & Legacy
Although not as famous as Warhol, Wayne Thiebaud was one of his contemporaries, and dabbled in pieces that fit the Pop Art aesthetic.
However, while other Pop artists used modern production techniques, Thiebaud painted most of his work.
He also worked at a cafe in Long Beach named "Mile High and Red Hot," where "Mile High" referred to an ice cream flavor and "Red Hot" to a hot dog. So I'd go back and do it again, do it again, do it again."
Notwithstanding this unique vision, a number of comparisons have been made between Thiebaud and his near contemporaries.
While similar in subject matter to his 1963 Cakes, the addition of the bakery case both produces more depth in the composition and places almost all of the pastries just out of the viewer's reach.
His depictions of cakes, pastries, everyday objects, and landscapes convey an earnestness and curiosity that can be traced back to the likes of Edward Hopper and earlier American art. To some, this revisiting suggests longing and nostalgia, but at the same time returning to one's work after a break is a practice Thiebaud routinely recommended to his students, saying, "It's difficult to see the work with any clarity until years later."
Oil on canvas - Collection of the artist
1987
Two Paint Cans
Here, two paint cans, one open with paint dribbled down the side, the other sealed and clean, sit side by side.
Visionaries like Andy Warhol come to terms with their own definitions of “art” by showcasing “mundane” items in a gallery.
The message behind the movement was powerful, and its influences are still being felt today.
Biography
Early Life
Technically, Morton Wayne Thiebaud is from Arizona, but he only lived there for the first six months of his life.
They occupy the space like a toy or tree, in a frozen moment of time." Here, as in his cake paintings, the subject is shown against a muted background, emphasized with a shadow - a technique commonly used in commercial illustration - with the effect of both focusing the viewer's attention and isolating the subject from any context.
This space combined with a limited palette of subdued pastel shades, with a few red, pink, and yellow accents, creates a unified composition. For example, most people would claim that a painting is a work ofart, but what about an advertisement?
If an ad isn’t considered a work of art, at what point does it stop being a commercialized piece and start becoming artistic?
This blurry line between art and consumerism was part of the foundation of the Pop Art movement of the 60s.
Thiebaud is also a keen tennis player, often mixing his paints in the lids of tennis ball containers.
The Legacy of Wayne Thiebaud
Thiebaud's transition from commercial to fine art is an experience he shares with other post-war artists such as Willem de Kooning and Warhol. With few galleries in Sacramento at this time, he exhibited in shops, restaurants and even the concession stand at a theater.
Although deeply inspired by his experience in New York, Thiebaud never felt part of the city's art scene - finding its seriousness off-putting.
Furthermore, the empty space in the case juxtaposes the ideas of abundance and scarcity. This humble still life reads as a classic study of color and volume; art historian Mara Holt Skov explains that Thiebaud "sees each new painting as an opportunity for him to confront anew the classic problems of painting - the making of an illusion of 3-D space on a 2-D plane using fluid materials, specific tools and an unfailing supply of physical, intellectual and emotional effort." The familiar, spare, cream-colored background highlights the complexity of the reflective, paint-covered surfaces of the cans.
Thiebaud's dedication to painting and his pursuit of excellence inspire all who are lucky enough to come in contact with him.