Isabel Norsten
Specialist, Head of Sale
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, CALIFORNIA
Lot 30
WAYNE THIEBAUD(1920-2021)Leaving Figures, 1960
1 March 2024, 10:00 PST
Los AngelesSold for US$152,900 inc. premium
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Sharon Squires
Head of Department, Post-War & Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Heidi Herrera
Cataloguer
WAYNE THIEBAUD (1920-2021)
Leaving Figures, 1960
signed, titled, inscribed and dated '"LEAVING FIGURES" 1960 THIEBAUD' (on the stretcher); signed again 'Thiebaud' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
18 x 36 in.
45.7 x 91.4 cm.
signed, titled, inscribed and dated '"LEAVING FIGURES" 1960 THIEBAUD' (on the stretcher); signed again 'Thiebaud' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
18 x 36 in.
45.7 x 91.4 cm.
Footnotes
Provenance
Acquired from the artist by way of the Artists Cooperative Gallery by the present owner in circa 1960
One of California's most beloved figures is undoubtedly Wayne Thiebaud. A master of his craft, Thiebaud remains one of the most significant artists of all time whose poetic renderings of the world around us celebrate everyday life in a song of vibrant colors and fluid gestures. The present lot is certainly no exception.
Leaving Figures is from a body of work Thiebaud painted between 1958-1960 after an influential trip to Mexico in 1958. Accompanied by his colleagues from the Artists Cooperative Gallery (which he co-founded) the present lot reveals ethereal figures emerging from the water in rich, varied, blue and green passages of impasto. The storefronts, landscapes, and street scenes of Mexico deeply influenced Thiebaud whose practice resulted in a new sense of intentionality, as is evident in Leaving Figures executed in 1960.
Leaving Figures is a brilliant example of Thiebaud's interest in using the medium of painting to explore color and light. Taking inspiration from the Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla, the present lot demonstrates Thiebaud's concerted effort to "slow down and more closely observe the play of light, color, and shadow in his world" (Teagle, Rachel, Wayne Thiebaud 1958-1968, Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, University of California Davis, The University of California Press, p. 72). Encapsulating a sense of motion through expressive gestures and thick impasto, Leaving Figures emphasizes Thiebaud's artistic agility while solidifying his steadfast dedication to exploring how light articulates the poignant moments that reverberate in our memory.
