Wayne Thiebaud 1920 -1921

December 27, 2021

Three years ago, I authored a blog post about Wayne Thiebaud’s work that was exhibited at the opening of the Shrem Museum at UC Davis. Wayne is one of my favorite painters, I love his style of how he combined colors to create contrast. Wayne passed away two days ago on Christmas at 101. Obviously, God must have also loved Wayne’s paintings to give him such a long life with so many accomplishments.

I know with myself, and I think it is true with many artists or creative persons, that it is not always easy to produce work. I see the world as a photographer, constantly framing images in my mind, and I go out and photograph often, but it is sometime a battle to keep up with postproduction work and getting images out to be seen. When I see an artist like Thiebaud, his paintings so incredible but, I also have much respect for the energy put in to creating a volume of work, putting it out there, and his case teaching and mentoring other artists. Whenever we lose someone great like Thiebaud I try and use that moment to reflect on live, be thankful for their impact, and use the moment to keep my own momentum going.

Here are some links to articles I found about Thiebaud’s passing:

Phoenix Art Museum - Ansel Adams - Performing the Print

April 22, 2021

At the end of March I saw a social media post from Beck Senf , the Norton Family Curator of Photography for the Phoenix Art Museum, about the Ansel Adams “Performing the Print” exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum. She encouraged people to see the exhibition and said it was coming to an end soon. Because of this I got in the truck and headed East on the 10 freeway, from California, to check it out. Okay, I better give a disclaimer here, we were already heading out to see some Cactus League games but I still made a point to get over to the Phoenix Art Museum to see the exhibition after seeing her reminder.

I remember well seeing an exhibition of Ansel Adams prints at the Friends of Photography in San Francisco years ago and being so intrigued by his different printing styles over time. Seeing his prints in person is always a great reminder of what a good print should look like. I don’t recall if the Friends of Photography had as much text explanation next to the prints as they included in the Phoenix exhibition. I thought the accompanying text at the Phoenix Art Museum exhibition was outstanding. It clearly and concisely described how the prints differed and it was written in a way that everyone could learn something from it. From a casual museum patron to a photographer with darkroom expertise. Unfortunately, the exhibition closed earlier this month and had been interrupted by the pandemic lockdown, but luckily I was able to see it and share the experience here.

There are better resources than me regarding the differences in Adam’s printing styles so I think it is best to just show a few photographs of the exhibition here to highlight what the exhibition was like.

The Phoenix Art Museum is itself a work of art, one of the best museum spaces I have ever seen. I would go there to see the building even if there weren’t any exhibitions up, the design and space is just that interesting. Below are a few examples of the space. Plus, you have to love any museum that has Wayne Thiebaud’s paintings in their collection. If you live in Phoenix join the museum and if you are just visiting make sure to get over to see the Phoenix Art Museum, you will not be disappointed.

One other

Wayne Thiebaud at The Shrem Museum - UC Davis

August 15, 2018

A review of Wayne Thiebaud’s 2018 exhibition at theJan Shrem & Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at UC Davis.

Instagram

Twitter