Wayne Thiebaud · Blue Hill

Wayne Thiebaud (American, b.1920), 1967. Acrylic and pastel on canvas, 197.4 x 243.5 cm. (77¾ x 95 7/8 in.). Private collection. © Wayne Thiebaud / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY.

“I’m not just interested in the pictorial aspects of the landscape – see a pretty place and try to paint it – but in some way to manage it, manipulate it, or see what I can turn it into”.

Wayne Thiebaud

Born in Arizona and raised in California, Wayne Thiebaud started working at the Walt Disney Studio, drawing Goofy, Pinocchio, and other famous Disney icons. He later studied at the University of California, where he became a teacher in 1960. During the 1960s Thiebaud’s fame increased significantly, being one of the eight artists included in the legendary “New Painting of Common Objects” exhibition at the Pasadena Museum in 1962. In the same year that this painting was created, Thiebaud’s work was exhibited at the Biennale Internationale.

Although today Thiebaud is perhaps best known for his “pop” paintings of supermarket products or cakes and pies (he even created a “doodle” for Google’s 12th anniversary), he has also dedicated a significant part of his efforts to landscape, both natural and urban.

Between 1967 and 1968, Thiebaud painted a series of views of the mountains near Sacramento, such as “Coloma Ridge” (private collection), “Blue Hill” (sold in 2007 for $ 1.7 million) and “Diagonal Ridge “(sold in 2011 for $902,000). Thiebaud plays with the contrast between the massive scale of the mountain (emphasized by the use of dark tones) and the apparent delicacy of the trees, painted with various shades of pastel.

G. Fernández – theartwolf.com

Wayne Thiebaud: “Coloma Ridge” (1967-68)