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Lot Essay
The relationship between Single Double Decker—a lusciously rendered double scoop of ice cream topping a toast-colored sugar cone—and Thiebaud’s signature paintings of all-American foods in various configurations is self-evident. This life-sized double scoop of soft ice cream fills neatly the picture plane as it sits on and in the thin white shelf fashioned with a hole that supports the shape of the cone. With its edges rimmed with streaks of green, orange and yellow, the shelf itself appears to be its own deliciously layered confection. Blues and purples highlight the brown of the chocolate scoop, while the vanilla scoop is swathed by a golden yellow halo. A revelation of both color and texture, Thiebaud invests as much process and care into Single Double Decker as he would with any one of his paintings. In fact, as the curator and art historian Steven Nash has written, the artist has a “democratic belief in the equal importance of drawing, printmaking and painting that is rare among artists. Thiebaud enjoys the expressive potential of each medium and continually mixes then in an organic process of discovery” S. Nash, “Wayne Thiebaud on Paper,” Thiebaud from Thiebaud, New York, 2016, p.7).
What also may be surprising is the relationship of drawings such as this to the artist’s landscapes. When the artist began using the rural landscapes of Northern California as well as the city streets of his home in San Francisco as the subject of his works on canvas and paper, he often included clouds that resemble scoops of vanilla ice cream drifting leisurely across the sky. In this pastel on paper drawing, the artist updates the sfumato or “smoke-like” effect perfected by the Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci with contemporary tools. By rubbing the drawing’s surface with steel wool, Thiebaud blends the crosshatched rainbow of pink, green, blue, orange, yellow and purple lines of pastel into an even haze. Through this technique, the top scoop of vanilla ice cream appears to melt into the background, taking on the consistency of a whipped cloud. Here, as in the best examples of his work, Thiebaud creates a visual metaphor in a sensual and haptic display of ephemeral textures.
What also may be surprising is the relationship of drawings such as this to the artist’s landscapes. When the artist began using the rural landscapes of Northern California as well as the city streets of his home in San Francisco as the subject of his works on canvas and paper, he often included clouds that resemble scoops of vanilla ice cream drifting leisurely across the sky. In this pastel on paper drawing, the artist updates the sfumato or “smoke-like” effect perfected by the Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci with contemporary tools. By rubbing the drawing’s surface with steel wool, Thiebaud blends the crosshatched rainbow of pink, green, blue, orange, yellow and purple lines of pastel into an even haze. Through this technique, the top scoop of vanilla ice cream appears to melt into the background, taking on the consistency of a whipped cloud. Here, as in the best examples of his work, Thiebaud creates a visual metaphor in a sensual and haptic display of ephemeral textures.