Wayne Thiebaud was a centenarian who continued to paint pretty much up to the time of his death in 2021. He was no slouch at painting people and places, but probably had his greatest success with things. As a still life artist, that is, often with food as his subject. He was also associated with Pop Art, but it looks like he was doing what he did long before anyone―himself included―had heard of Pop.
The above painting is called "Dark Cones", and in its way it is quite wild. It's not entirely clear what's holding the ice cream cones up, but in the (sun?) light they cast dramatic shadows. They're also engulfed in a fair amount of shadow, so you could hold long debates about the flavor of the ice cream. Their shapes look oddly human. They could be members of a gang, or at least a 60s girl group.
2 comments:
Once again you've set me on an investigation of an artist whose work I hadn't seen before. You're right that the ice cream picture you've posted is weirdly fascinating. There's a very interesting account of a meeting with him in Art Review done when he was 95 years old. He had a great career painting landscapes, cityscapes, portraits, food - and was an expert at painting pictures of Mickey Mouse (his frst job was at Disney).
Since he was in his mid-20s during ww2 I wondered what he'd done during the war when everybody else got drafted. A further search mentioned his skills as an artist gave him the pleasure of working under Ronald Reagan’s command as an artist and cartoonist in the Special Services Department of The United States Air Force, and eventually got promoted to the First Air Force Motion Picture Unit. What a lucky guy.
That is an interesting--not to mention somewhat glamorous--background to his career. Between the early job at Disney, the wartime service under the Gipper, and being in the Air Force Motion Picture Unit it's a little bit surprising that he didn't end up as an animator or production designer, something in the area of the movies. Of course painting turned out to be his real gift, so I guess we were lucky.
In that first article he describes getting what sounds like good advice from Willem de Kooning. It also sounds like just being exposed to the sights and feel of California at the time was a big influence.
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