Wayne Thiebaud

Born in Utah, Wayne Thiebaud grew up in Long Beach, CA. As a child, he was interested in theater and drawing. Thiebaud went on to work for Walt Disney as a tracer during his teenage years, but was fired after protesting the company’s unfair wages. During World War II Thiebaud found success in the Air Force’s illustration department. As a result, Thiebaud decided to become an art instructor, and the GI bill allowed him to pursue his education in painting and design at California State University and San Jose State University.

Thiebaud developed his signature still life style many grew to love during the 1960’s. Galleries proudly showcased these pieces, depicting colorful pastries and candy against stark white backgrounds. The objects are almost always outlined in rainbow lines that make the whole work vibrate and pop. Critics at the time raved about his work. They considered it to exemplify a  Pop Art perspective. They believed Thiebaud’s food paintings to symbolize American idolization of the consumption of consumer goods and the American temptation of junk foods. In a review of these works in ArtNews, Thomas Hess described Thiebaud as a major social critic who created caricatures of the American food habit with elegant yet cruel irony.

However despite these critics’ views, other writers and even Thiebaud himself recognized these paintings as separate from the Pop Art movement. Critics saw Thiebaud as simply painting as a fine artist inspired by other painters such as Chardin and Kline. As a long-time instructor at the University of California, Davis, Thiebaud taught generations of artists. He continues to live and work in Northern California.

-Ariel Friedlander