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Wayne Thiebaud: 1958-1968
Wayne 1958–1968 examines Thiebaud’s ongoing impact on contemporary art through in-depth analysis of the paintings and drawings made at the launch of his career, at a seminal moment when the art world was moving beyond Abstract Expressionism and redefining itself. By questioning Thiebaud’s relationship to Pop art, his self-imposed distance from the movement, and the popular urge to affiliate him with it, Teagle explores the role of his painting in the traffic of images at the end of the twentieth century. Organized in close cooperation with the artist, this is the first study of the emergence of Thiebaud’s mature style and the only museum exhibition to date to delve into a specific period of his production, a time that coincides with the start of his teaching career at University of California at Davis.
Thiebaud’s art, like that of the celebrated Pop artists with whom he shared early exhibitions, is ripe for critical reappraisal. The “soft” nature of Thiebaud’s famous subjects, his creamy pies and dripping ice creams, positioned his art as fodder for social-political review on occasion, but rarely for serious historical analysis. Since the beginning of his career Thiebaud reminded critics of his formal interests and his deep affiliation with the history of painting. This exhibition takes as its starting point an understanding of Thiebaud’s painterly language—its historical sources and contemporary affiliations. Shaped around the seminal exhibitions that marked Thiebaud’s entrance onto the stage of contemporary art, it concludes with a close reading of the artists’ expanded subject matter presented in a major traveling exhibition in 1968. Portraits and landscapes now joined the food that prevailed in early exhibitions, and all pictured in the artist’s now signature style of objects deployed in neutral space, bounded by halated light and casting long shadows of saturated color.
With contributions by Margaretta Lovell, Alexander Nemerov, Francesca Wilmott, and Arielle Hardy.
Published in association with the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, University of California, Davis.
Exhibition
Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, University of California, January 16–May 13, 2018
Thiebaud’s art, like that of the celebrated Pop artists with whom he shared early exhibitions, is ripe for critical reappraisal. The “soft” nature of Thiebaud’s famous subjects, his creamy pies and dripping ice creams, positioned his art as fodder for social-political review on occasion, but rarely for serious historical analysis. Since the beginning of his career Thiebaud reminded critics of his formal interests and his deep affiliation with the history of painting. This exhibition takes as its starting point an understanding of Thiebaud’s painterly language—its historical sources and contemporary affiliations. Shaped around the seminal exhibitions that marked Thiebaud’s entrance onto the stage of contemporary art, it concludes with a close reading of the artists’ expanded subject matter presented in a major traveling exhibition in 1968. Portraits and landscapes now joined the food that prevailed in early exhibitions, and all pictured in the artist’s now signature style of objects deployed in neutral space, bounded by halated light and casting long shadows of saturated color.
With contributions by Margaretta Lovell, Alexander Nemerov, Francesca Wilmott, and Arielle Hardy.
Published in association with the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, University of California, Davis.
Exhibition
Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, University of California, January 16–May 13, 2018
176 pages, Hardcover
Published January 16, 2018
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April 12, 2019
An excellent, reasonably balanced study, with a combination of biographical, art historical, and technical commentary. I even learned a new word, halation. I was familiar with this as the blurring of light around a bright area (in a photograph or on a tv screen), i.e. a halo, but had not realized that Josef Albers expanded the word to include the eye's perception of "glowing" or "vibrating" edges as induced by the juxtaposition of certain colors or or light and shadow. You can certainly see this glow in many of Thiebaud's paintings. He also had a Sorolla-influenced period I didn't know about.
I also learned that Thiebaud's work was shown at the old Nut Tree plaza, a formerly-interesting local landmark that's now pretty much a generic strip mall with a lot of outlet shopping. Apparently there was an era, in the 60s, when the Nut Tree had fancy shops and restaurants, an art gallery, and even an air strip of its own! Due to Don Birrell, former director of the Crocker Museum, being hired as its design director (I didn't know shopping centers had design directors, did you?). Haven't found any photos of this so far.
I also learned that Thiebaud's work was shown at the old Nut Tree plaza, a formerly-interesting local landmark that's now pretty much a generic strip mall with a lot of outlet shopping. Apparently there was an era, in the 60s, when the Nut Tree had fancy shops and restaurants, an art gallery, and even an air strip of its own! Due to Don Birrell, former director of the Crocker Museum, being hired as its design director (I didn't know shopping centers had design directors, did you?). Haven't found any photos of this so far.
Displaying 1 of 1 review