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Lot Essay
Wayne Thiebaud was greatly inspired by the achievements of Richard Diebenkorn and other California-based artists working in the 1950s. At the time, Thiebaud was a commercial artist, and it is this "low art" sensibility that he brings to the lofty formal and painterly ambitions of both the New York School and the California artists'
Delicatessen Trays was exhibited in Thiebaud's first show at the Allan Stone Gallery in 1962, a landmark in his career. It was through this exhibition that Thiebaud began to receive critical recognition. His still life depictions of food trays, pies, hot dogs and candy machines hit a nerve with a New York scene that was beginning to bear witness to the rise of Pop Art.
What distinguishes Thiebaud from this group, however, is the painterly richness of his canvases. Unlike the silk-screens of Warhol, the Benday dots of Lichtenstein, and the slick surfaces of Rosenquist, Thiebaud's work is a result of his love for the manipulation of paint as well as the representation of everyday things.
(fig. 1) Giorgio Morandi, Still Lige, 1956, Museo Morandi, Bologna.
Delicatessen Trays was exhibited in Thiebaud's first show at the Allan Stone Gallery in 1962, a landmark in his career. It was through this exhibition that Thiebaud began to receive critical recognition. His still life depictions of food trays, pies, hot dogs and candy machines hit a nerve with a New York scene that was beginning to bear witness to the rise of Pop Art.
What distinguishes Thiebaud from this group, however, is the painterly richness of his canvases. Unlike the silk-screens of Warhol, the Benday dots of Lichtenstein, and the slick surfaces of Rosenquist, Thiebaud's work is a result of his love for the manipulation of paint as well as the representation of everyday things.
(fig. 1) Giorgio Morandi, Still Lige, 1956, Museo Morandi, Bologna.