Wayne Thiebaud was an American painter best known for capturing edible treats and everyday objects in his singular illustrative style. His most popular subject matter includes colorful cakes, slices of pie, candy pieces, such as lollipops, and the winding streets of San Francisco. Since Theibaud’s paintings capture a uniquely American sensibility, critics have compared his penchant for still life to painters like Chardin and Georgio Morandi. “A conscious decision to eliminate certain details and include selective bits of personal experiences or perceptual nuances, gives the painting more of a multi-dimension than when it is done directly as a visual recording. This results in a kind of abstraction, and thus avoids the pitfalls of mere decoration,” he reflected. Born Morton Wayne Thiebaud on November 15, 1920 in Mesa, AZ, the artist moved to California soon after, where he became interested in stage design and lighting. He began his career as a commercial artist, but switched to fine art after during his education. A trip to New York in the 1950s introduced him to Willem and Elaine de Kooning, Franz Kline and other representatives of the city’s art scene at the time. Working primarily in the Bay Area, his work can be found at the Whitney Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others. Thiebaud was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1994.
