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Lot Essay
Wayne Thiebaud’s depiction of the iconic cartoon character, Mickey Mouse, is a pure pleasure for the eyes in both composition and color palette. Reminiscent of the bygone memories of Disney’s golden age, Mickey Mouse demonstrates Thiebaud’s thoroughly modern treatment of the chromatic power of color within his signature use of oil paint. Best known for his still-life and figural portrait paintings of mundane yet satisfying subjects, Thiebaud’s Mickey Mouse is an extraordinary combination of both of his iconic motifs. The central figure is frozen in action, yet infused with energy and playfulness. Thiebaud’s signature brushwork and masterful use of color are apparent in the shadows and halos around the contours of his subjects.
Coming from the collection of Ron and Diane Disney, Mickey Mouse is a perfect fit into the family collection. Both Thiebaud, as well as the Disney Empire, were fascinated by the pictorial possibilities of objects drawn from everyday American life and consumerism. Thiebaud's ability to transform a universally recognizable character into a subject of drama and complexity is a testament to his power of observation as well as his extraordinary sense of color and form. As Adam Gopnik expertly stated of Thiebaud, "The Pop resonance of his subjects is apparent, but they come at us slowed down and chastened with a host of ambivalent feelings - nostalgic, satiric, elegiac, longing, inquiring - attached, so that our experience ends calmed down and contemplative: enlightened" (A. Gopnik quoted in An American Painter, San Francisco, 2000, p. 56).
Coming from the collection of Ron and Diane Disney, Mickey Mouse is a perfect fit into the family collection. Both Thiebaud, as well as the Disney Empire, were fascinated by the pictorial possibilities of objects drawn from everyday American life and consumerism. Thiebaud's ability to transform a universally recognizable character into a subject of drama and complexity is a testament to his power of observation as well as his extraordinary sense of color and form. As Adam Gopnik expertly stated of Thiebaud, "The Pop resonance of his subjects is apparent, but they come at us slowed down and chastened with a host of ambivalent feelings - nostalgic, satiric, elegiac, longing, inquiring - attached, so that our experience ends calmed down and contemplative: enlightened" (A. Gopnik quoted in An American Painter, San Francisco, 2000, p. 56).