Wayne Thiebaud

Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco
Faggionato Fine Art, London

This work is in very good condition overall. There is a slight vertical undulation to the sheet. Otherwise, there are no apparent condition problems with this work. Hinged verso to the matte at intervals around the edges and framed under Plexiglas.
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The improbable geometry of Northern California, with its steep hills and dramatic landscape, is the perfect location for the exaggeration of spatial dynamics and investigation of the complexities of form and composition so prevalent in Thiebaud's work.  After moving there in 1972, Thiebaud became fascinated by the depiction of rural life with extreme foreshortening and shifting perspectives. The landscapes would thus become an ideal forum within which to explore the tensions between abstraction and representation. In paintings such as Three River Bend, Thiebaud perfectly balances representation with geometric abstraction, and tonal sensitivity, rendering rural scenes into vibrant aesthetic fantasies, almost Impressionistic in their effect.

Thiebaud's fantastic representation is telling since his depictions are not merely pretty replications of observed scenery. Rather, they are foremost studies of form, color and composition. He exercises myriad manipulations in the arrangements of elements, from color, to line, to texture, producing paintings that are first and foremost artistic constructions; their descriptive role is secondary. The primacy of process and composition is reflected in the way the surfaces of his paintings are built. Indeed, much like the depicted roads, planted fields, rivers and trees, Thiebaud's paintings are networks of faceted, interlocking planes of form, light and color, which convincingly portray the dramatic vantage points and pitched perspectives of the California country side.

In Three River Bend, 2002, Thiebaud harmoniously depicts a river bend amidst planted fields and trees. The pastel colors and subject matter is reminiscent of Impressionist landscapes such as Monet's Poplars, Autumn, 1891. The startlingly varied forms of the open fields and gently winding river at the center of the composition provide soft linear accents that hold the composition to the flat picture plane. The trees, fields and central river divide the composition further collapses our sense of depth.  As crisp as blank sheets of paper, these beautifully executed planes of color serve to lead the viewer's eye throughout the composition, balancing the softer pools of light and shade that heighten the impact of Thiebaud's melodious design.