Wayne Thiebaud"Gold Dredgers" Sacramento, Watercolor by Wayne Thiebaudcirca 1956
circa 1956
About the Item
- Creator:Wayne Thiebaud (1920, American)
- Creation Year:circa 1956
- Dimensions:Height: 20.5 in (52.07 cm)Width: 33 in (83.82 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Long Island City, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU4663892972
Wayne Thiebaud
Wayne Thiebaud’s pastel-hued still-life paintings and prints of baked goods, gumball machines, hot dogs and paint cans are often associated with the Pop art movement, thanks to the mass-cultural appeal of their content. Stylistically, however, Thiebaud eschewed the precision found in the art of such Pop giants as Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol in favor of a more painterly approach, not unlike that of the Italian modernist Giorgio Morandi, whose dreamy paintings of vessels and household objects are simple yet richly atmospheric.
Thiebaud was born in Mesa, Arizona, in 1920 and grew up in Southern California from the age of six months. As a high schooler, he had a summer apprenticeship at Walt Disney Studios, which led to a stint as a graphic artist in the U.S. Army Air Forces’ First Motion Picture Unit during World War II. After the war, he attended the California State College at Sacramento on the G.I. Bill, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 1951 and earning a master’s soon after. He went on to teach at the University of California, Davis, from 1960 to ’91.
In the late ’50s, time spent living in New York City proved crucial to Thiebaud’s career. There, he befriended Abstract Expressionist painters Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline and drew inspiration from the work of Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. Admiring the color and form on display in New York’s many bakeries, he began painting small canvases featuring rows of treats, which would become one of his central subjects. Though Thiebaud himself doesn’t identify as a Pop artist, the first major exhibition that brought him national renown was a seminal 1962 Pop show at the Sidney Janis Gallery in Manhattan. That same year, he was included in "New Painting of Common Objects” at the Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena, which also featured paintings by Ed Ruscha and Jim Dine. Iconic works such as Pie Counter (1963) demonstrate Thiebaud’s signature treatment of commonplace items with the grandeur and scale of a landscape.
Thiebaud’s interest in exaggerated colors and vernacular subject matter — characteristics that call to mind images found in mid-century advertising — made him an intriguing figure occupying the hazy borderlands between fine and commercial art. Yet through a masterful handling of paint, evocative use of light and poignant sense of isolation, Thiebaud’s work is unquestionably thoughtful and singular. His later forays into landscape painting, as seen in Steep Street (1989) or Country City (1988), bring to bear his bold use of color on complex urban scenes.
Pieces by Thiebaud can be found in the collections of major museums, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, among many others. In 1994, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Bill Clinton.
Find original Wayne Thiebaud art on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Long Island City, NY
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
- University Floral Design, Framed Photorealist Watercolor PaintingLocated in Long Island City, NYArtist: Unknown Title: University Floral Design Medium: Watercolor on paper, signed lower right Image Size: 17.5 x 25 inches Frame Size: 28 x 35 inches ...Category
1980s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor
- Central Park in Fall, Framed Photorealist Watercolor PaintingLocated in Long Island City, NYArtist: Unknown Title: Central Park in Fall Medium: Watercolor on paper, signed lower right Image Size: 17.5 x 25 inches Frame Size: 28 x 35 inches Watercolor of The Mall in Centra...Category
1980s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor
- Dining Room Interior, Pastel Drawing by Joseph BarberBy Joseph BarberLocated in Long Island City, NYArtist: Joseph Barber, American (1915 - 1998) Title: Dining Room Interior Year: circa 1945 Medium: Watercolor and Pastel on Paper, signed l.l. Size: 15 x 21 inches (38 x 53.5 cm) Fra...Category
1950s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsOil Pastel, Archival Paper
- Field of Flowers, Watercolor Painting by Charles LevierBy Charles LevierLocated in Long Island City, NYArtist: Charles Levier, French (1920 - 2003) Title: Field of Flowers Year: circa 1970 Medium: Watercolor, signed l.l. Image Size: 22 x 25.5 inches Size: 20.5 in. x 35 in. (52.07 cm x...Category
1970s Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor
- Israeli Landscape, Gouache Painting by Yohanan Simon 1962By Yohanan SimonLocated in Long Island City, NYArtist: Yohanan Simon (1905-1976) Title: Landscape Medium: Gouache on paper laid to card Date: 1962 Signature: Signed and dated in Hebrew Paper Size: 16.75 x 21 inches Frame Size: 24...Category
1960s Modern Landscape Paintings
MaterialsLaid Paper, Gouache
- Waterscape, Impressionist Watercolor on Paper by Chaim GrossBy Chaim GrossLocated in Long Island City, NYWaterscape Chaim Gross, Austrian (1901–1991) Date: 1948 Watercolor on Paper, signed and dated in pen lower right Size: 15 x 23 in. (38.1 x 58.42 cm)Category
1940s Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor
- Untitled (Industrial Street)Located in Los Angeles, CAThis work is part of our exhibition - America Coast to Coast: Artists of the 1940s Untitled (Industrial Street), c. 1940s, watercolor on paper mounted on illustration board, estate stamp verso (signed by Peter Corbridge, the artist’s son); 14 x 21 inches; unframed Edgar Corbridge was a Massachusetts-based precisionist painter who mainly worked in watercolor. In 1916, three years after immigrating from England, Corbridge completed a course of study in sign painting at the Fall River, Massachusetts Technical High School and obtained an apprenticeship with the Armour Sign Shop. Throughout his career, Corbridge was mainly self-taught as a fine artist. In 1918, Corbridge received his first recognition as an artist for his entry in a Fall River Women’s Club poster competition. During much of his professional life, Corbridge worked as a self-employed window trimmer and operator of the Corbridge Display Service, supplemented by income from the occasional sale of his paintings. Corbridge gleaned the subjects for his works in and around his home in Fall River, Massachusetts, as well as Provincetown. In the 1940s, Corbridge began to exhibit frequently, including at the annual exhibitions at the Jordan Marsh Company...Category
1940s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
MaterialsWatercolor, Board
- Estes Park (Colorado), American Modernist Watercolor PaintingBy James Russell ShermanLocated in Denver, COVintage view of storefronts in Estes Park, Colorado, near Rocky Mountain National Park by James Russell Sherman (1906-1989). Watercolor and ink on paper, signed by the artist in the ...Category
1930s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor
- Fall FieldsBy David HayesLocated in Lawrence, NYGouache on paper signed en verso Throughout his sixty-year artistic career, David Hayes created sculptural forms abstracted from organic forms encountered in daily life. He first st...Category
1980s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsGouache
- Untitled (Connecticut Landscape)By David HayesLocated in Lawrence, NYGouache on paper signed en verso Throughout his sixty-year artistic career, David Hayes created sculptural forms abstracted from organic forms encountered in daily life. He first st...Category
1990s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsGouache
- Glowing PasturesBy David HayesLocated in Lawrence, NYGouache on paper signed en verso Throughout his sixty-year artistic career, David Hayes created sculptural forms abstracted from organic forms encountered in daily life. He first st...Category
1990s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsGouache
- San Miguel, MexicoBy Dong KingmanLocated in Missouri, MOSan Miguel, Mexico By Dong Kingman (American, 1911-2000) Unframed: 22" x 15" Framed: 31" x 24" Signed Lower Left Born in Oakland, CA on March 31, 1911. When Kingman was five, his family moved to Hong Kong where he grew up and attended Lingnan Grammar School. The headmaster of the school, Szetu Wei, had studied painting in Paris and recognized his budding artistic talent. For several years he trained young Kingman in both oriental and occidental approaches to painting. Returning to San Francisco in 1929, Kingman became active in the local art scene and began painting scenes of the city. His first solo show at the San Francisco Art Center in 1936 brought immediate recognition. During the 1930s he spent five years working on commissions for the Federal Public Works of Art Project. During WWII he created maps and charts for the O.S.S. After the war Kingman settled in NYC and taught at Columbia University. His paintings were used as backdrops for the movie "Flower Drum Song...Category
20th Century American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
This Tempting Wayne Thiebaud Watercolor Is the Perfect Summer Treat
Although he also produced pensive portraits and idyllic landscapes, the artist’s best-known images are of ice cream, cakes and other colorful sweets.
Chryssa’s 1962 Neon Sculpture Was Way ahead of the Art-World Curve
By working with lettering, neon and Pop imagery, Chryssa pioneered several postmodern themes at a time when most male artists detested commercial mediums.