{"data":{"id":"1325","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":1325,"topgoose_id":416,"tms_id":1325,"display_name":"Wayne Thiebaud","sort_name":"Thiebaud Wayne","display_date":"1920–2021","begin_date":"1920","end_date":"2021","biography":"\u003cp\u003eWayne Thiebaud’s works from the early\n1960s are often linked with Pop art by virtue\nof their depiction of quotidian American\nsubjects, including gumball machines,\nsoda bottles, hot dogs, and delicatessen\ncounters. Painted from memory and\nimagination rather than direct observation,\nthese canvases recall the time Thiebaud\nspent working in restaurants. Around\n1959 he became interested in the formal\nproperties of the shapes he encountered\nin daily life, such as the triangles and\ncircles in \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/3042\"\u003e\u003cem\u003ePie Counter\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e and the planes upon\nwhich they sit. His style resists the\nflattening graphic approach of other Pop\nartists, however, and he has remained\nresolutely devoted to painting.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003ePie Counter\u003c/em\u003e Thiebaud renders\nthe tempting textures of sponge, frosting,\nand meringue in luscious, thick strokes\nof oil paint. The rows of standardized slices\nevoke the mass production of food in\nthe postwar period, while their chromatic\noutlines and bold shadows harness the\nvisual language of advertising, the legacy\nperhaps of Thiebaud’s experience as a\ngraphic designer. \u003cem\u003ePie Counter\u003c/em\u003e stops short of\ncritique of mass consumer culture, however.\nIt also conveys a sense of nostalgia for\nwhat the artist has described as “a visual\nmemory in fragmented circumstances [that]\nwere always poetic to me.” As such, the\npainting might be read as a traditional still\nlife, with its presentation of food a metaphor\nfor transience: “The pies that we now see,”\nThiebaud has explained, “are not going\nto be around forever. We are merely used to\nthe idea that things do not change.”\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500010185","wikidata_id":"Q698275","created_at":"2017-08-30T15:39:46.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-21T01:30:07.862-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/1325/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/1325/exhibitions"}}}}