Thiebaud Retrospective `A Feast for the Eyes'

Just in time for his 80th birthday, painter Wayne Thiebaud has been honored with his first New York retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Entitled "Wayne Thiebaud: A Paintings Retrospective," the exhibit traces Thiebaud's development from the 1950s to the present day and features approximately 100 paintings, watercolors and pastels. Included are his mouth-watering depictions of gumball machines, cakes and pies, along with his later human figures and brillantly colored cityscapes of San Francisco and landscapes of the Sacramento Valley.

Born in Mesa, Ariz., in 1920, Thiebaud spent most of his life in California and gained recognition in the 1950s when he began to exhibit in solo and group shows throughout the U.S. The influence of Abstract Expressionism on his work can be seen in the thick brushstrokes and bold use of color that characterize many of his early paintings of food. Thiebaud was also influenced by the Pop Art movement, and he likewise took ordinary consumer objects such as sandwiches and lollipops and turned them into icons of American art. But, in contrast to much of the irony present in Pop Art, Theibaud's subjects reflect a sense of nostalgia and reverence for the middle-class America of the artist's boyhood, according to the exhibition catalog.

The tangible quality of his work--the ability to capture the look and feel of food--has set Thiebaud apart from his contemporaries. According to Maria Prather, curator at the Whitney, "The paintings are a luscious feast for the eyes, not just because of the tasty subject matter, but in terms of the creamy, sensuous paint application and thrilling sense of color."

Beginning in the 1970s, Thiebaud began to concentrate more on semi-abstract cityscapes and landscapes around California. Paintings such as "Hill Street" portray a San Francisco of exaggerated hills, where buildings cling precariously to steeply sloping cliffs.

Organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the exhibit contains many pieces which have never been publicly shown before. A 216-page catalog containing 100 color illustrations accompanies the exhibit.

SHOW FACTS

"Wayne Thiebaud: A Paintings
Retrospective"

Through Sept. 23

Whitney Museum of American Art

Address: 945 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10021

Phone: (212) 570-3600

Web site: www.whitney.org