Lot Essay
Bakery Counter comes from Thiebaud's most acclaimed period of work. In 1961 he exhibited his depictions of pies, hot dogs, candy machines and layer cakes in San Francisco where they were not well-received. However, one year later, Allan Stone offered him a one-man show at his gallery in New York, and it was an incredible success.
Before this recognition, at different times earlier in his career Thiebaud worked in California as a cartoonist, set designer, commercial artist and educator. In the late 1950s he was greatly inspired by the painterly works of Bay Area Figurative Artists like Richard Diebenkorn and David Park--whose influence is apparent in Thiebaud's mature work of the early 1960s. Most of all he was drawn to Diebenkorn's "calculated effort to control and organize his compositions . . . and his use of mundane household imagery, which later appears in [Thiebaud's] paintings" (K. Tsujimoto, Wayne Thiebaud, San Francisco 1985, pp. 32-33). In his career as an educator, Thiebaud was appointed to the position of Assistant Professor of Art at the University of California, Davis in 1960. There he was encouraged to be a "working" professor which gave him the opportunity to paint. He produced hundreds of sketches, drawings and paintings between 1960-1961; his subjects were still lifes ranging from ice cream cones to pinball machines.
His first successful show at the Allan Stone Gallery in 1962 coincided with the rise of Pop Art in New York and the work of artists like Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist and Roy Lichtenstein--whose work emphasized mass-produced, consumer imagery. Given Thiebaud's subject matter, he was not suprisingly meshed into this group; although he did not necessarily share their ideals. Thiebaud's painting is a result of his love of the manipulation of paint as well as the representation of the objects. This is in contrast to the colder and more graphic appearance of the work of the Pop Artists. Thiebaud's subjects of this period are nostalgic. They were painted from memory, a technique enhanced by his years as a commerical artist. To him they represent exciting times from his childhood, when he admired candy and bakery counters and window displays on the Long Beach Boardwalk near his home. Still lifes like Pies, Pies, Pies, 1961 and Toy Counter, 1962, as well as Bakery Counter are about an 'idea of reality' (ibid, p. 52). Bakery Counter is a symbol of the wholesome American culture of the 1950s and 1960s.
Bakery Counter is among the largest of Thiebaud's early 1960s still lifes. Every element of this intricate arrangement is carefully placed to give an overall sense of balance and weight to the composition. For example, Thiebaud has crammed together nine rows of multi-colored pastries in the lower left of the canvas; at the same time, he has juxtaposed the pair of bread loaves in the upper right, thus counterbalancing the entire composition. The artist masterfully combines flatness and depth by creating an illusionistic space through the window of the bakery counter. Thiebaud's sweet coloring and frosty impasto create an exaggerated realism, which make Bakery Counter good enough to eat.
Before this recognition, at different times earlier in his career Thiebaud worked in California as a cartoonist, set designer, commercial artist and educator. In the late 1950s he was greatly inspired by the painterly works of Bay Area Figurative Artists like Richard Diebenkorn and David Park--whose influence is apparent in Thiebaud's mature work of the early 1960s. Most of all he was drawn to Diebenkorn's "calculated effort to control and organize his compositions . . . and his use of mundane household imagery, which later appears in [Thiebaud's] paintings" (K. Tsujimoto, Wayne Thiebaud, San Francisco 1985, pp. 32-33). In his career as an educator, Thiebaud was appointed to the position of Assistant Professor of Art at the University of California, Davis in 1960. There he was encouraged to be a "working" professor which gave him the opportunity to paint. He produced hundreds of sketches, drawings and paintings between 1960-1961; his subjects were still lifes ranging from ice cream cones to pinball machines.
His first successful show at the Allan Stone Gallery in 1962 coincided with the rise of Pop Art in New York and the work of artists like Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist and Roy Lichtenstein--whose work emphasized mass-produced, consumer imagery. Given Thiebaud's subject matter, he was not suprisingly meshed into this group; although he did not necessarily share their ideals. Thiebaud's painting is a result of his love of the manipulation of paint as well as the representation of the objects. This is in contrast to the colder and more graphic appearance of the work of the Pop Artists. Thiebaud's subjects of this period are nostalgic. They were painted from memory, a technique enhanced by his years as a commerical artist. To him they represent exciting times from his childhood, when he admired candy and bakery counters and window displays on the Long Beach Boardwalk near his home. Still lifes like Pies, Pies, Pies, 1961 and Toy Counter, 1962, as well as Bakery Counter are about an 'idea of reality' (ibid, p. 52). Bakery Counter is a symbol of the wholesome American culture of the 1950s and 1960s.
Bakery Counter is among the largest of Thiebaud's early 1960s still lifes. Every element of this intricate arrangement is carefully placed to give an overall sense of balance and weight to the composition. For example, Thiebaud has crammed together nine rows of multi-colored pastries in the lower left of the canvas; at the same time, he has juxtaposed the pair of bread loaves in the upper right, thus counterbalancing the entire composition. The artist masterfully combines flatness and depth by creating an illusionistic space through the window of the bakery counter. Thiebaud's sweet coloring and frosty impasto create an exaggerated realism, which make Bakery Counter good enough to eat.