SAN FRANCISCO — There’s nothing nicer than going into a serious museum present like Wayne Thiebaud: Artwork Comes from Artwork on the Legion of Honor stuffed with wariness round its (apparent?) premise and leaving not simply satisfied, however charmed. To be clear, I used to be already a Thiebaud fan. Colourful and enjoyable, whereas deeply earnest in regards to the enterprise of artwork making, his work appear to take severe enjoyment of his topics and sources, whether or not beautiful muffins or a sprawling California Delta panorama. And although his work has usually been understood within the context of his native California — these dramatic rural and concrete landscapes, that vibrant palette, all these saccharine goodies — isn’t the concept it’s additionally indebted to earlier artwork a given? Why ought to it’s completely different for Thiebaud than some other painter? Seems, it’s a distinction of diploma, and Thiebaud cranked his artwork amp to 11.
The present opens with a single work, “Betty Jean Thiebaud and Book” (1965–69), whereby the artist’s spouse is depicted in a plunging black V-neck, a pale headband in her darkish hair connecting her to the pale background. She stares forward, her hand alongside one aspect of her face, her elbow resting on a white floor, ignoring the open artwork e book in entrance of her that comprises black and white reproductions on going through pages. The cascade of artwork historic impressions is immense.
Set up view of Wayne Thiebaud: Artwork Comes from Artwork on the Legion of Honor, San Francisco. Middle: “Betty Jean Thiebaud and Book” (1965–69) (picture Bridget Quinn/Hyperallergic)
Curator Timothy Anglin Burgard describes the portrait of Betty Jean as Thiebaud’s “Mona Lisa,” and you may immediately see why, as their enigmatic expressions are equally mysterious. There’s additionally the e book, during which the reproductions could be made out as drawings by Georges Seurat and Edgar Degas, artists whose draftsmanship Thiebaud admired. And the black and grey association to painting a lady in an American artist’s life offers off a whiff of James McNeill Whistler. In a wall textual content close to the portray, alongside the standard didactic, are small reproductions of works by Albrecht Dürer, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Degas, and Pablo Picasso which may have consciously or unconsciously impressed Betty Jean’s hand-to-side-of-head pose.
In a movie that accompanies the exhibition, Burgard explains that Thiebaud appropriates in 3 ways: overt theft, as an homage to the sooner artwork and artist; covert theft, during which he conceals his supply imagery; and intuitive transformation, the place he has digested the supply and it’s in him. Lots of the enjoyment of transferring via the exhibition is recognizing the Easter eggs of earlier artwork, whether or not overt, covert, or one thing much more refined.
Wayne Thiebaud “35 Cent Masterworks” (1970–72), oil on canvas; Wayne Thiebaud Basis (© Wayne Thiebaud Basis / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY)
Generally the connection is clear, as in “Standing Man” (1964), whose White businessman in a regular grayish go well with stands, arms hanging by his sides, towards a pale backdrop and floor. His pose and resigned expression instantly recall to mind Jean-Antoine Watteau’s well-known “Pierrot” (1718–19), the white-clad commedia dell’arte everyman and clown. But the wall label additionally factors out a much less apparent, however clear, relationship to the black and white pictures of on a regular basis Germans by August Sander.
Such connections as these are enjoyable to seek out and see, whereas others initially struck me as unlikely, as in considered one of Thiebaud’s early figurative works, “Nude” (1963), paired with a replica of Edvard Munch’s “Puberty” (1894). Each are feminine nudes, however whereas Munch’s isn’t rather more than a woman, wide-eyed, arms crossed over her hunched physique, a bit of haunted, Thiebaud’s lady is voluptuous, seen head on, her hooded eyes searching impassively. It’s a wholly completely different vibe — however then I take into account the forged shadow in each works, the darkish hair and the white floor on which each figures are posed and, yeah, it feels apt to check them.
Wayne Thiebaud “Woman in Tub” (1965), oil on canvas (picture Bridget Quinn/Hyperallergic)
The exhibition contains many different comparisons which are one way or the other each apparent and never. For “Woman in Tub” (1965), I instantly considered Jacques-Louis David’s “Death of Marat” (1793), however then requested myself if any portray of an individual in a bath might need the identical resonance when your mind is saturated with artwork historic imagery. As an artist and influential instructor of artwork, Thiebaud was extra immersed in such pictures than most, from many eras and cultures, together with the artwork of his contemporaries and instant predecessors in the US. His “Road Through” (1983), for instance, is an amusing riff on Barnett Newman’s summary “zip” work, however right here Newman’s spiritual-tinged different world turns into a vertiginous freeway slicing via nature.
Thiebaud’s insistent deal with this world may be one cause why he has usually been mischaracterized as a Pop artist. However even his cake work — in all probability his most recognizable works and those that cemented his affiliation with Pop — are clearly not simply that once you see them in individual. Their impasto floor is as thick because the dunes of an actual cake, whereas the oil paint “frosting” is lush, wealthy, inviting — and gestural, clearly marking the hand of the artist. What’s extra, the exhibition convincingly demonstrates that Thiebaud’s muffins owe as a lot to Degas’s hats as they do to peppy and fairly American promoting.
It strikes me that perhaps an extra cause Thiebaud has been labeled Pop may come all the way down to geography. A West Coast artist producing pictures of muffins and sweet within the second half of the twentieth century was typically assumed to be capturing a Hollywood model of sunlit and superficial California. Whereas some play is clear, although, there isn’t any irony in Thiebaud’s depictions of latest folks, locations, and issues. And whereas he’s usually thought of a “California artist” (a label he disliked), he believed that artwork transcended place, insisting, “There is only one art world and one painting world.” And that world is definitely the place you will discover him.
Wayne Thiebaud “Display Cakes” (1963), oil on canvas; San Francisco Museum of Fashionable Artwork (© Wayne Thiebaud Basis / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY; {photograph}: Don Ross, Katherine Du Tiel)
Wayne Thiebaud, “Office and Shopping Mall” (2005/2021), oil on canvas (picture Bridget Quinn/Hyperallergic)
Wayne Thiebaud, “Road Through” (1983), oil on canvas (picture Bridget Quinn/Hyperallergic)
Wayne Thiebaud “Five Seated Figures” (1965), oil on canvas; Wayne Thiebaud Basis (© Wayne Thiebaud Basis / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY)
Wayne Thiebaud: Artwork Comes from Artwork continues on the Legion of Honor (100 thirty fourth Avenue, San Francisco, California) via August 17. The exhibition was curated by Timothy Anglin Burgard.
