by Probably the most famous that Pablo Picasso never said was: “Copying good artists, great artists Steal.” The quote that was largely assigned to the Spaniard, as well as TS Eliot and even Steve Jobs under a long list of famous thinkers is so popular because it summarizes an apparent truism of artists: If their influences are found, they must not be very good in what they do.
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The fantastic new show in the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, Wayne Thiebaud: Art is dealt with by art, reverses this equation and shows more than 60 of the best pieces of the Californian – in addition to reproductions of the paintings from which he cut to make it. The implicit argument is that introducing Thiebaud into a personal canon of artistic mentors and influences does not reduce it, but actually better than ever.
“Thiebaud was a” art thief “, said to me the curator of the show, Timothy a Burgard, when we went through the exhibition together.” And I am a curator detective who follows a thief. “For Burgard, the show was a complete child’s play. When Thiebaud scholar was to create a PowerPoint for many of the most important works by the artist To implement artistic antecondments and one day to the Legion of Honor for the examination.
The list of influencer artists who gathered Burgard is far-reaching and fascinating. It includes fairly obvious decisions, such as Thiebaud’s good friend and colleague of California artist Richard Diebnekorn as well as old masters such as Rembrandt and Velázquez, who may initially not like the best adjustments (among them Rothko, Joan Mitchell, and both the Hilling stamp) and even anonymous, and even anonymous, and even anonymous.
The show specifies the sound with 35 -cent masterwork, for which Thiebaud painted a shopping case with a dozen postcards of various masterpieces, each of which was sold for 35 cents. Among the sizes to which he tribute here are Mondrian, Monet, de Chirico, Picasso, Degas and Cézanne. The work is not only a kind of crib leaf for Thiebaud’s mentors, but also as a criticism of marketing and consumerism, which then began to anchor itself in the art world. These are forces to which Thiebaud’s work is exposed to, since the price for original works has been increased in the past ten years.
In addition to the great 35 -cent masterwork and a breathtaking portrait of the artist’s wife, Betty Jean Thiebaud and book of the artist, the first gallery of the show is filled with original works of art that Thiebaud collected, as well as copies that he made of masterpieces such as Rembrandt, Frans Hals and Velázquez. This copy work helped find out his own solutions for artistic problems. “To paraphrase, said Thiebaud:” I look at other artists for inspiration. I look at them for problem solutions, “said Burgard.” Sometimes I have a problem with a painting and I will see another artist to see what they have done when they encounter a similar problem. “
According to Burgard, Thiebaud’s art collection decorated his home, while his copies were largely invisible until this show. Burgard speculated that Thiebaud, as a young, impoverished artist, probably acquired his impressive collection by his long -time dealer, the art collector and the gallery owner Allan Stone. “Probably, when Allan Stone’s accounting was due, he did something like a trade,” said Burgard. “Stone knew many of the abstract expressionist artists and treated a lot in William de Kooning, Franz Kline, Elaine de Kooning, all artists who are represented in Thiebaud’s collection. Otherwise it would have been difficult to acquire all this art, especially a family.”
Wayne Thiebaud: Art comes from art shows that are impressive in size and reach, and shows aspects of Thiebaud, which is not well known. Yes, there are cakes, dizzying urban landscapes and a delicious portrait of gumball machines, but the audience also sees that Thiebaud performs abstract expressionism, pastoral landscapes, files, still lives, even a Kafkaesque comprehensive chair. An intimate self -portrait in late careers, which Thiebaud created in 2020, the year in which he was 100, has a painful title of a hundred -year -old clown and shows an aging, lonely Thebaud that says goodbye to the art world. “When you walk through the show, all series, the characters, the still lifes, the mountains, the [Sacramento] Delta paintings, the clowns, you cannot specify an issue or an emotion or a tenor or whatever, “said Burgard.
Speaking of light that there are so many wonderful negative space in these paintings, which is mostly taken by whites, which are as thick and delicious as a wedding cake and are enough for as many subtle differences in shade and texture to be an exhibition within an exhibition. “It is a symphony of white,” enthusiastic Burgard again and again when we went the galleries of the show and on the radiant greens, yellow work, blues and red wines, the Thiebaud subtly overlaid in the apparently “empty” space in his paintings and performed in the Halo effect. “It is every single white that is known to humanity, practical as it feels,” said Burgard. “It is a white sea that you could fall into. If you have tried to replicate it with a palette, it would take about 100 colors. It is one thing to do so many colors with a forest painting or something, but only with a woman in a bathtub. It’s absolutely magical.”
It can be so abundant and transported to spark our over the surface effects, to conjure up Thiebaud, encourage art of art to pores the viewers through the centuries of art history that are embedded in these works. “Thiebaud’s paintings are so sensual and tempting for the spectators that there is a tendency to stop there on the surface and not dig deeper,” said Burgard. “It is part of my job to make the width and depth of our historical knowledge, our visual memorial bench in these works. I think Thiebaud leaves everyone immediately on the surface, no matter who they are. And I hope that this show is a way to let them understand that they understand that Thiebaud is deeper, he is a man with people, and that it is art history.”
A window to art history and for the psyche of a great postmodernist is the key here. “I think he really channel these other artists while working,” said Burgard. “I think that spectators who go through the exhibition have the chance to think about Wayne Thiebaud.” His hope is that the audience, when you lean into the artistic way of thinking of the Californian, will develop their own impressions and draw their own conclusions about what Thiebaud’s artist Brain brought. And if you do not agree with the jumps and comparisons to which Burgard came as a curator, it is all the better. “I do a case and I am thrilled when someone disagrees,” said Burgard. “Because they are engaged. Then they win, the artist wins, we all win because they are engaged at that time. Apathy is the enemy of art.”
