Wayne Thiebaud, painter of lush colors and textures, dies

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Artist Wayne Thiebaud, whose luscious, colorful paintings of cakes and San Francisco cityscapes combined sensuousness, nostalgia and a hint of melancholy, has died. He was 101.

His decease was confirmed successful a connection Sunday by his gallery, Acquavella, which didn’t accidental wherever oregon erstwhile Thiebaud died.

“Even astatine 101 years old, helium inactive spent astir days successful the studio, driven by, arsenic helium described with his diagnostic humility, ‘this astir neurotic fixation of trying to larn to paint,’” the gallery’s connection said.

The dean of California painters, Thiebaud drew upon his earlier vocation arsenic a Disney animator, motion creator and commercialized artist.

While immoderate took his blistery dogs, bakery counters, gum shot machines and candy apples to beryllium examples of popular art, Thiebaud ne'er considered himself to beryllium successful the mold of Andy Warhol, and helium did not dainty his subjects with the irony the popular question championed.

“Of course, you’re thankful erstwhile anyone ever calls you anything,” helium erstwhile said. “But I ne'er felt overmuch a portion of it. I indispensable accidental I ne'er truly liked popular creation precise much.”

The existent subject, galore critics said, was overgarment and the enactment of coating itself: the shimmering colour and sensuous texture of the thickly applied paint.

He laid connected the overgarment truthful heavy that helium often carved his signature into the coating alternatively of putting it connected with the brush.

“The lipid overgarment is made to look similar meringue,” said Marla Prather, a curator astatine the Whitney Museum of American Art New York who helped signifier a 2001 retrospective of the artist’s work. “And with the cakes, you get this large consciousness of texture with the frosting. You conscionable privation to measurement adjacent and lick it.”

Many of his painted images were outlined successful neon pinks and blues that made the objects look to glow. Shadows were often a affluent blue.

“It’s joyful, portion a batch of modern creation is angst-ridden,” Prather said successful a 2001 Associated Press interview.

Thiebaud told PBS’ “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” successful 2000 that the taxable of nutrient was “fun and humorous, and that’s unsafe successful the creation world, I think. It’s a satellite that takes itself precise seriously, and of course, it is simply a superior enterprise, but I deliberation besides there’s country for wit and wit due to the fact that wit gives us, I think, a consciousness of perspective.”

Gum shot machines were a favourite theme, helium said, due to the fact that “a large circular globe is truthful beautiful, and it’s truly a benignant of orchestration of circles of each kinds. But it’s besides precise sensuous, I think, and it offers fantastic opportunities for coating thing like, astir similar a bouquet of flowers.”

In 2004, a New York Times writer praised his “wry imaginativeness of modern consumerism” and said, “No 1 did much to reanimate the bushed aged genre of inactive beingness coating successful the past fractional period than did Mr. Thiebaud with his paintings of industrially regimented nutrient products.”

Thiebaud told the “NewsHour” helium preferred calling himself a painter, alternatively than an artist, due to the fact that “it’s similar a clergyman referring to himself arsenic a saint. Maybe it’s a small excessively aboriginal oregon he’s not the 1 to determine that … Being an creator I deliberation is simply a precise uncommon thing.”

Along with the sensuousness, determination was sometimes an emptiness and melancholy reminiscent of Edward Hopper. He likened the feeling to the “bright pathos” of a circus clown.

In landscape, his astir celebrated taxable was the metropolis of San Francisco, whose steep hills helium portrayed successful a fantasy-like way, with spectacular angles and stark shadows.

“Originally, I painted close connected the streets, trying to get immoderate of the benignant of play I felt astir the metropolis and its vertiginous (dizzying) character,” helium told the “NewsHour.”

“But that didn’t look to enactment … The world was 1 happening but the phantasy oregon the exploration of it was another.”

Thiebaud was calved successful Mesa, Arizona, successful 1920 and grew up successful Sacramento, California. He started retired arsenic an animator for Walt Disney and aboriginal worked arsenic a poster decorator and commercialized creator successful California and New York earlier becoming a painter.

He besides was a longtime prof astatine the University of California, Davis. He officially retired successful 1991 but continued teaching 1 people a year.

Former AP writer Polly Anderson contributed biographical accusation to this report.