“Thiebaud sculpts with paint and brush away from our quotidian world where the laws of physics, optics, and weather prevail into his own world where the sun always shines, gravity is inert, and nothing spoils. It is a world constructed equally of memory and longing, and a very pleasant place to be.”
A n enchanting portrait of a restaurant table, Flower in Vase situates Wayne Thiebaud amongst the great still life painters. Painted in 1962, the present work illustrates a pink rose inside the thin neck of a glass vase flanked by classic metal head salt and pepper shakers. Together, they hold a menu tight behind them with the support of a half-omitted sugar dispenser. Housed inside a peppermint green walled room, the objects on the table are hit by a gush of light coming from beyond the confines of the upper lefthand corner of the canvas. The allure of the present work rests not only in its luscious treatment of the paint but also in the cultural appeal and powerful sense of nostalgia with which Thiebaud is famously capable of infusing in his work—a nostalgia that is irrefutably linked to the cultural feel and tone of the sixties.
Still life painting was the key to Thiebaud's early evolution and references important precedents in art history. During the 1960s, Thiebaud developed an affinity for the works of Giorgio Morandi, whose influence can be strongly felt in the present work. In Flowers in Vase, the tight compositional unit recalls the structure of Morandi's work from the 1950s. Like Morandi, Thiebaud achieves volume of the objects on the table through the use of calculated brushstrokes. Almost like a pastel filter placed over the image, the present work evokes serenity and contemplation as the items are suspended in time and space. Seemingly bathed in California light, Flowers in Vase achieves a high degree of sophistication through its thoughtful use of light, color, and shape.
© The Richard Diebenkorn Foundation
Further negating his supposed purity as a Realist, Thiebaud demonstrates an exceptional and incessant manipulation of color. Employing a technique now referred to as ‘halation’ within color theory, Thiebaud juxtaposes warm and cool tones to produce a resounding prismatic synergy that outlines and electrifies each form off the surface of the canvas. In the present work, Thiebaud contours the borders of the salt and pepper shakers withered and purple that add sensational chromatic depth to this seemingly minor detail. Moreover, the calculated use of white allows for these contours to pop, while creating balance. The thick impasto accentuates and activates every form upon the surface of the canvas. Furthermore, the simplicity and reductive quality of the horizon line in the present work echoes the sublime nature of other still life painters like Richard Diebenkorn and Eva Gonzalès, who utilized color and space to create a condensed space that recalls a dream-like vision of reality.
Always painting from memory, Thiebaud holds the innate ability to stimulate that collective consciousness of the sixties in America. Though readily remembered as a Pop Artist, Thiebaud differs from master Pop artists like Claes Oldenburg and Andy Warhol in that his aim is not to critique society but rather to celebrate and remember it. By recalling pleasant remembrances, Flowers in Vase serves as a societal mirror based not on the person, but on the collective memory.
