Wayne Thiebaud (1920–2021) became famous for his colorful paintings of American confections and buffets. He was also a self-described art “thief,” who openly drew ideas from and reinterpreted old and new European and American artworks. Highlighting work from across the beloved artist’s six-decade career, this exhibition features Thiebaud’s inventive reinterpretations and direct copies of famous artworks, as well as objects from his personal art collection that inspired him. Approximately 60 quintessential works by Thiebaud — including paintings of people (alone and together); still lives of cakes, tabletops, and other ordinary objects; cityscapes featuring soaring buildings; and mountain landscapes — offer an in-depth exploration of one of the most important and overlooked aspects of his creative practice: his passionate engagement with art history.
Although artist Wayne Thiebaud (1920–2021) earned acclaim for his poetic renderings of the prosaic particulars of American life, he openly admitted that "it's hard for me to think of artists who weren't influential on me, because I'm such a blatant thief." The official exhibition catalogue of the exhibition at the Legion of Honor, Wayne Thiebaud: Art Comes from Art features the artist's virtuosic appropriations and reinterpretations of old and new European and American artworks, spanning from Andrea Mantegna to Édouard Manet, Henri Matisse to Richard Diebenkorn, offering crucial insights into his creative process. Hardcover, 360 pages.