Synopses & Reviews
In fact, Thiebaud is part of the grand tradition of representational art from Chardin and Manet to the American Realist masters such as Eakins and Hopper. Best-known for his deadpan still-life paintings of cakes, pies, delicatessen counters, and other consumer goods, Thiebaud has also explored such themes as figure studies, the topography of Northern California, and cityscapes exaggerating the vertiginous roadways and geometric high-rises of San Francisco. Continuous throughout his career is his combination of the perceptual and the conceptual, of sensuous color, light, and painterly texture with rigorously formal composition, resulting in a highly personalized Americana. is published on the occasion of an exhibition of the same title, the first major survey in fifteen years of work by this famous American figurative artist. Steven A. Nash, Associate Director and Chief Curator at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, has organized the exhibition and provides a biographical essay on Thiebaud. An extended essay by Adam Gopnik, the Paris Journal writer for , links Thiebaud to American writing as a painter in the tradition of Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams, and John Updike.
Synopsis
"An excellent overview of Thiebaud's long painting career...a significant addition to contemporary art literature."Library JournalWayne Thiebaud has long been recognized as one of America's most prominent modern artists. Probably best known for his straightforward, deadpan, still-life paintings of the 1960s, Thiebaud is identified by his brilliant palette, his luscious handling of paint, and the intensity of light that lends a particularly "California" flavor to his images. In addition to his well-known paintings of pies and cakes, contents of delicatessen counters, and other consumer goods, Thiebaud has also painted figure studies, cityscapes with vertiginous plunges that restructure space and perspective, and dramatically abstracted landscapes.
Originally published on the occasion of the artist's eightieth birthday, this retrospective book brings together 120 of Thiebaud's most important paintings, watercolors, and pastels. Essays by Steven A. Nash and Adam Gopnik trace the course of his career from the 1950s, when he first began to emerge as a significant national artist. 160 illustrations, 124 in color.
Synopsis
Wayne Thiebaud, the California-based painter, has produced works of complexity and distinction that appear deceptively simple in terms of subject matter and in their presentation yet draw on many historical sources.
About the Author
Steven A. Nash's work on modern artists includes books on Naum Gabo, Ben Nicholson, and Picasso.Adam Gopnik, author of Paris to the Moon and The Table Comes First, is a staff writer for The New Yorker.
Table of Contents
Unbalancing acts: Wayne Thiebaud reconsidered /Steven A. Nash --American painter /Adam Gopnik --Wayne Thiebaud: a paintings retrospective --Chronology /Steven A. Nash.