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Lot Essay
A group of paintings spanning nearly a decade, Tomato Bowl (2003), Jewelry Display (1976/1997) and Ridge Valley Farms Study (2001) elegantly showcase Wayne Thiebaud’s talents as a still life painter known for drawing attention to the intricacy and beauty of everyday objects as well as his mastery of landscape. Within a matter of brushstrokes, Thiebaud sweeps his brush seamlessly from one genre to another, first bringing his viewer high above an expansive landscape, where only the outline of a tree or shadow of a ploughed field are discernible, before delivering them within the curvature of a ring, bouncing color towards an invisible light source.
The grandiosity of a landscape such as the one depicted in Ridge Valley Farms Study leaves the viewer suspended in space, focusing on the beauty of nature and how, in this case, it gently collides with man. This feeling is familiar to art lovers as a common theme in many art historical periods. Whether it be a precious moment in Claude Monet’s garden, a whimsical view outside Vincent van Gogh’s window or a melancholic country scene in Edward Hopper’s America, landscapes like Thiebaud’s tames the landscape, while other artists paint it from a distance. Thiebaud, like many of his contemporaries across the country on the East Coast, then worked to challenge that standard by concentrating on objects otherwise mundane – a soup can, or, in the case of this collection, a simple grouping of tomatoes in a bowl and a triangular arrangement of rings. Being able to harness that feeling of artistic awe in a dichotomy such as this, especially in paintings so intimate in scale, is what makes Thiebaud stand out among his contemporaries and artists throughout history.
Painted in 2001, before being purchased by the most recent owner from Paul Thiebaud Gallery in San Francisco, Ridge Valley Farms Study alludes to the artist’s early career when landscapes were the forefront of his focus. Born and raised in the California countryside, these early works made in the 1960s and 70s reflect his attention to the details that existed in his surroundings, while also demonstrating his ability to add his own flare of color and unique outlining. The painting itself expertly illustrates the landscape of rural California complete with sharply defined sections of bucolic farmland alongside rocky, mountainous terrain.
Thiebaud breaks up each section with areas of complementary colors in similar shades while also playing with highlights and shadows delineated only by his signature linework. This style mirrors his contemporary, Richard Diebenkorn, who was also known for his landscapes and use of earthy color. Both artists called upon memories of their childhoods by bringing their immediate environments to the canvas; each body of work carefully maintains the spirit of the places that shaped them. Thiebaud’s use of compartmentalization, sophisticated color contrast and texture work in concert to resolve the switchbacks and swirls across the canvas, thus inviting and integrating the viewer into that very same youthful upbringing. Ridge Valley Farms Study is unique in that it was created many years after the artist, along with other Pop artists of the time, shifted to focus on the everyday object. This return to his roots later in his career shows Thiebaud’s cyclical, but mature evolution.
Each work in this collection, including the artist’s mastery in printmaking and on paper, exemplifies the skill of Wayne Thiebaud throughout different moments in his career. His work delves deeper than the Pop art genre so popular in the latter half of the twentieth century. Time has proven that his paintings are more than just a snapshot of consumer goods, but a celebration of life and the intricacies that exist within even its greatest simplicities. His subject matter is carefully thought out and elegantly deployed, seemingly always inviting the viewer inward. His body of work encompasses a culture frozen in time, living on through his brushstrokes and distinct color palette, making it so not even a bowl of tomatoes will be overlooked when analyzing the canon of art history and the experience of being alive.
About the Collector:
Throughout her long and fruitful life, Frances Hamilton White (1933-2021) made an immeasurable impact both on the people with whom she surrounded herself and those who never knew her. Growing up in West Virginia, it was not long before Frances found her destined home on the West Coast, moving first to La Mesa in Southern California before settling a few miles north in Cardiff. Taking an interest less in any one philanthropic cause and more in humanity as a whole, Frances ensured the existence of the Hamilton Glaucoma Center at the Shiley Eye Institute of UC San Diego, jumpstarted a home-delivered meal service for patients affected by terminal illness, saw to the ongoing educational initiatives of institutions meaningful to her locale and dedicated herself to nature’s healing power through the Nature Collective. In all this, Frances still found time to appreciate visual culture, intentionally supporting artists native to her adopted state and sitting on the board of the Mingei International Museum in San Diego. A faithful patron of the Paul Thiebaud Gallery in San Francisco, Frances collected widely, often buying directly from the artists’ studio, as in the case of the spectacular Thiebauds in her collection. Public donations aside, Frances is remembered as a delightful person, loved by those who had the pleasure of coming into her orbit. Frances’s legacy, thus, is one of committed kindness to a community of creators about which she deeply cared.
The grandiosity of a landscape such as the one depicted in Ridge Valley Farms Study leaves the viewer suspended in space, focusing on the beauty of nature and how, in this case, it gently collides with man. This feeling is familiar to art lovers as a common theme in many art historical periods. Whether it be a precious moment in Claude Monet’s garden, a whimsical view outside Vincent van Gogh’s window or a melancholic country scene in Edward Hopper’s America, landscapes like Thiebaud’s tames the landscape, while other artists paint it from a distance. Thiebaud, like many of his contemporaries across the country on the East Coast, then worked to challenge that standard by concentrating on objects otherwise mundane – a soup can, or, in the case of this collection, a simple grouping of tomatoes in a bowl and a triangular arrangement of rings. Being able to harness that feeling of artistic awe in a dichotomy such as this, especially in paintings so intimate in scale, is what makes Thiebaud stand out among his contemporaries and artists throughout history.
Painted in 2001, before being purchased by the most recent owner from Paul Thiebaud Gallery in San Francisco, Ridge Valley Farms Study alludes to the artist’s early career when landscapes were the forefront of his focus. Born and raised in the California countryside, these early works made in the 1960s and 70s reflect his attention to the details that existed in his surroundings, while also demonstrating his ability to add his own flare of color and unique outlining. The painting itself expertly illustrates the landscape of rural California complete with sharply defined sections of bucolic farmland alongside rocky, mountainous terrain.
Thiebaud breaks up each section with areas of complementary colors in similar shades while also playing with highlights and shadows delineated only by his signature linework. This style mirrors his contemporary, Richard Diebenkorn, who was also known for his landscapes and use of earthy color. Both artists called upon memories of their childhoods by bringing their immediate environments to the canvas; each body of work carefully maintains the spirit of the places that shaped them. Thiebaud’s use of compartmentalization, sophisticated color contrast and texture work in concert to resolve the switchbacks and swirls across the canvas, thus inviting and integrating the viewer into that very same youthful upbringing. Ridge Valley Farms Study is unique in that it was created many years after the artist, along with other Pop artists of the time, shifted to focus on the everyday object. This return to his roots later in his career shows Thiebaud’s cyclical, but mature evolution.
Each work in this collection, including the artist’s mastery in printmaking and on paper, exemplifies the skill of Wayne Thiebaud throughout different moments in his career. His work delves deeper than the Pop art genre so popular in the latter half of the twentieth century. Time has proven that his paintings are more than just a snapshot of consumer goods, but a celebration of life and the intricacies that exist within even its greatest simplicities. His subject matter is carefully thought out and elegantly deployed, seemingly always inviting the viewer inward. His body of work encompasses a culture frozen in time, living on through his brushstrokes and distinct color palette, making it so not even a bowl of tomatoes will be overlooked when analyzing the canon of art history and the experience of being alive.
About the Collector:
Throughout her long and fruitful life, Frances Hamilton White (1933-2021) made an immeasurable impact both on the people with whom she surrounded herself and those who never knew her. Growing up in West Virginia, it was not long before Frances found her destined home on the West Coast, moving first to La Mesa in Southern California before settling a few miles north in Cardiff. Taking an interest less in any one philanthropic cause and more in humanity as a whole, Frances ensured the existence of the Hamilton Glaucoma Center at the Shiley Eye Institute of UC San Diego, jumpstarted a home-delivered meal service for patients affected by terminal illness, saw to the ongoing educational initiatives of institutions meaningful to her locale and dedicated herself to nature’s healing power through the Nature Collective. In all this, Frances still found time to appreciate visual culture, intentionally supporting artists native to her adopted state and sitting on the board of the Mingei International Museum in San Diego. A faithful patron of the Paul Thiebaud Gallery in San Francisco, Frances collected widely, often buying directly from the artists’ studio, as in the case of the spectacular Thiebauds in her collection. Public donations aside, Frances is remembered as a delightful person, loved by those who had the pleasure of coming into her orbit. Frances’s legacy, thus, is one of committed kindness to a community of creators about which she deeply cared.