Skip to main content

Wayne Thiebaud Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

American, 1920-2021

Wayne Thiebaud’s pastel-hued still-life paintings and prints of baked goods, gumball machines, hot dogs and paint cans are often associated with the Pop art movement, thanks to the mass-cultural appeal of their content. Stylistically, however, Thiebaud eschewed the precision found in the art of such Pop giants as Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol in favor of a more painterly approach, not unlike that of the Italian modernist Giorgio Morandi, whose dreamy paintings of vessels and household objects are simple yet richly atmospheric.

Thiebaud was born in Mesa, Arizona, in 1920 and grew up in Southern California from the age of six months. As a high schooler, he had a summer apprenticeship at Walt Disney Studios, which led to a stint as a graphic artist in the U.S. Army Air Forces’ First Motion Picture Unit during World War II. After the war, he attended the California State College at Sacramento on the G.I. Bill, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 1951 and earning a master’s soon after. He went on to teach at the University of California, Davis, from 1960 to ’91.

In the late ’50s, time spent living in New York City proved crucial to Thiebaud’s career. There, he befriended Abstract Expressionist painters Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline and drew inspiration from the work of Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. Admiring the color and form on display in New York’s many bakeries, he began painting small canvases featuring rows of treats, which would become one of his central subjects. Though Thiebaud himself doesn’t identify as a Pop artist, the first major exhibition that brought him national renown was a seminal 1962 Pop show at the Sidney Janis Gallery in Manhattan. That same year, he was included in "New Painting of Common Objects” at the Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena, which also featured paintings by Ed Ruscha and Jim Dine. Iconic works such as Pie Counter (1963) demonstrate Thiebaud’s signature treatment of commonplace items with the grandeur and scale of a landscape.

Thiebaud’s interest in exaggerated colors and vernacular subject matter — characteristics that call to mind images found in mid-century advertising — made him an intriguing figure occupying the hazy borderlands between fine and commercial art. Yet through a masterful handling of paint, evocative use of light and poignant sense of isolation, Thiebaud’s work is unquestionably thoughtful and singular. His later forays into landscape painting, as seen in Steep Street (1989) or Country City (1988), bring to bear his bold use of color on complex urban scenes.

Pieces by Thiebaud can be found in the collections of major museums, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, among many others. In 1994, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Bill Clinton.

Find original Wayne Thiebaud art on 1stDibs.

to
1
1
1
1
Overall Height
to
Overall Width
to
1
1
1
1
1
1
47
85
59
52
52
1
1
Artist: Wayne Thiebaud
"Gold Dredgers" Sacramento, Watercolor by Wayne Thiebaud
By Wayne Thiebaud
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Wayne Thiebaud, American (1920 - ) Title: "Gold Dredger" Sacramento Year: circa 1956 Medium: Watercolor on paper Signature: Signed and titled in pencil Image Size: 9 x 20.5 ...
Category

1950s American Modern Wayne Thiebaud Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Related Items
Trees Over the Vineyard
By Robert Hallowell
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Trees Over the Vineyard Watercolor on heavy paper, c. 1930 Signed with the estate stamp verso (see photo) Sheet size: 16 1/2 x 19 1/8 inches Condition: Excellent Illustrated: Marbell...
Category

1930s American Modern Wayne Thiebaud Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Fisherman's Island, Boothbay, Maine, early 20th century landscape watercolor
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887-1964) Fisherman's Island, Boothbay, Maine, c. 1925 Watercolor on paper Signed lower left 15 x 20 inches 20.75 x 25.75 inches, framed Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1964) was a modernist American artist and a master of watercolor. Wilcox is described as the "Dean of Cleveland School painters," though some sources give this appellation to Henry Keller or Frederick Gottwald. Wilcox was born on October 3, 1887 to Frank Nelson Wilcox, Sr. and Jessie Fremont Snow Wilcox at 61 Linwood Street in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, a prominent lawyer, died at home in 1904 shortly before Wilcox' 17th birthday. His brother, lawyer and publisher Owen N. Wilcox, was president of the Gates Legal Publishing Company or The Gates Press. His sister Ruth Wilcox...
Category

1920s American Modern Wayne Thiebaud Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Schooner, Boothbay Harbor, Maine, Early 20th Century Seascape Watercolor
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887-1964) Schooner, Boothbay Harbor, Maine, c. 1924 Gouache and watercolor on paper Signed lower right 14 x 20 inches 19.5 x 25.5 inches, as framed Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1964) was a modernist American artist and a master of watercolor. Wilcox is described as the "Dean of Cleveland School painters," though some sources give this appellation to Henry Keller or Frederick Gottwald. Wilcox was born on October 3, 1887 to Frank Nelson Wilcox, Sr. and Jessie Fremont Snow Wilcox at 61 Linwood Street in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, a prominent lawyer, died at home in 1904 shortly before Wilcox' 17th birthday. His brother, lawyer and publisher Owen N. Wilcox, was president of the Gates Legal Publishing Company or The Gates Press. His sister Ruth Wilcox...
Category

1920s American Modern Wayne Thiebaud Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gouache, Watercolor

Turkeys in the Trees, Early 20th Century Farm Landscape Watercolor
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
Turkey in the Trees, c. 1922 Watercolor on paper Signed lower right 22 x 29 inches Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1964) was a modernist American artist and a mast...
Category

1920s American Modern Wayne Thiebaud Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Women's Corner, Along the Cuyahoga River, Early 20th Century Cleveland School
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
Frank Nelson Wilcox (American, 1887-1964) Women's Corner, Along the Cuyahoga River, c. 1916 Watercolor and graphite on paper 21 x 29 inches Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1964) was a modernist American artist and a master of watercolor. Wilcox is described as the "Dean of Cleveland School painters," though some sources give this appellation to Henry Keller or Frederick Gottwald. Wilcox was born on October 3, 1887 to Frank Nelson Wilcox, Sr. and Jessie Fremont Snow Wilcox at 61 Linwood Street in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, a prominent lawyer, died at home in 1904 shortly before Wilcox' 17th birthday. His brother, lawyer and publisher Owen N. Wilcox, was president of the Gates Legal Publishing Company or The Gates Press. His sister Ruth Wilcox was a respected librarian. In 1906 Wilcox enrolled from the Cleveland School of Art under the tutelage of Henry Keller, Louis Rorimer, and Frederick Gottwald. He also attended Keller's Berlin Heights summer school from 1909. After graduating in 1910, Wilcox traveled and studied in Europe, sometimes dropping by Académie Colarossi in the evening to sketch the model or the other students at their easels, where he was influenced by French impressionism. Wilcox was influenced by Keller's innovative watercolor techniques, and from 1910 to 1916 they experimented together with impressionism and post-impressionism. Wilcox soon developed his own signature style in the American Scene or Regionalist tradition of the early 20th century. He joined the Cleveland School of Art faculty in 1913. Among his students were Lawrence Edwin Blazey, Carl Gaertner, Paul Travis, and Charles E. Burchfield. Around this time Wilcox became associated with Cowan Pottery. In 1916 Wilcox married fellow artist Florence Bard, and they spent most of their honeymoon painting in Berlin Heights with Keller. They had one daughter, Mary. In 1918 he joined the Cleveland Society of Artists, a conservative counter to the Bohemian Kokoon Arts Club, and would later serve as its president. He also began teaching night school at the John Huntington Polytechnic Institute at this time, and taught briefly at Baldwin-Wallace College. Wilcox wrote and illustrated Ohio Indian Trails in 1933, which was favorably reviewed by the New York Times in 1934. This book was edited and reprinted in 1970 by William A. McGill. McGill also edited and reprinted Wilcox' Canals of the Old Northwest in 1969. Wilcox also wrote, illustrated, and published Weather Wisdom in 1949, a limited edition (50 copies) of twenty-four serigraphs (silk screen prints) accompanied by commentary "based upon familiar weather observations commonly made by people living in the country." Wilcox displayed over 250 works at Cleveland's annual May Show. He received numerous awards, including the Penton Medal for as The Omnibus, Paris (1920), Fish Tug on Lake Erie (1921), Blacksmith Shop (1922), and The Gravel Pit (1922). Other paintings include The Trailing Fog (1929), Under the Big Top (1930), and Ohio Landscape...
Category

1910s American Modern Wayne Thiebaud Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Graphite, Watercolor

California Impressionist Landscape Painting Framed 19th Century Rare Purple
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original American impressionist figurative watercolor of a California coastline with trees.
Category

Early 1900s American Modern Wayne Thiebaud Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Airacuda Fighter Planes Art Deco Machine Age 20th Century American Modernism
Located in New York, NY
Airacuda Fighter Planes Art Deco Machine Age 20th Century American Modernism Arthur Rosenman Ross (1913 - 1981) Bell YFM-1 Airacuda Fighter Planes 17 1/2 x 26 1/2 inches Gouache, Airbrush and Ink on Illustration Board, 1938 Signed A. Ross lower right Provenance: Estate of the artist. BIO Arthur Rosenman Ross was a key figure in automotive design at General Motors during America's "Golden Age" of auto design, the 1930's through the 1950s. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago from age 17, exhibiting a special interest for automotive renderings and the female figure. In 1934, he changed his name from Rosenman to Ross, fearing his Jewish ancestry could prejudice his career prospects. At age 20, he turned down job offers from MGM Studios in Hollywood and Duesenberg to work at General Motors alongside the Legendary Harley Earl in 1935. He was hand picked by Mr. Earl and assigned to GM's War and Camouflage Division in 1937 through WW2. It was during this pivotal period in which he executed some extraordinary military aircraft artworks, likely used between GM and America's military aeronautics companies in design preparation for WW2. General Motors played an important role in helping America's aircraft manufacturers preceding and during the war. Just after the war in 1945, Mr. Ross was rewarded by GM, being made Chief Designer of Cadillac, then two years later becoming Chief at Oldsmobile until his retirement in 1959. He was in large part responsible for some of GM's classic Cadillac designs such as the Cadillac Sixty Special, Fleetwood, LaSalle and GM's first concept car, the extraordinary Buick Y-Job. Mr. Ross was an exceptionally charismatic and vivacious man who quite by chance, befriended His idol, Salvador Dali at GM in 1955. They talked about art, cars and girls late into the evening, according to his son, Carter Ross. He had a gift in rendering the erotic arts...
Category

1930s American Modern Wayne Thiebaud Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Gouache, Board

“Rocky Mountain Meadow”
By Werner Drewes
Located in Southampton, NY
Original watercolor on archival paper of a Rocky Mountain Meadow by the well known American artist, Werner Drewes. Signed lower right. Titled and dated 1956 on verso of sheet. Con...
Category

1950s American Modern Wayne Thiebaud Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Archival Paper

View Towards Christmas Cove, Maine, Early 20th Century East Coast Landscape
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
View Towards Christmas Cove, Maine, c. 1923 Watercolor on paper Signed lower right 14 x 19.5 inches Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1...
Category

1920s American Modern Wayne Thiebaud Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Shower at Head of Valley
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
Shower at Head of Valley, c. 1950 Watercolor on paper Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 17, 1964) was a modernist American artist and a master of watercolor. Wilcox is described as the "Dean of Cleveland School painters". In 1906 Wilcox enrolled from the Cleveland School of Art...
Category

1950s American Modern Wayne Thiebaud Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Reflections Along the Ohio River, 20th Century Landscape Watercolor
By Frank Wilcox
Located in Beachwood, OH
Reflections Along the Ohio River, c. 1920 Watercolor and graphite on board Signed lower left 22 x 30 inches Frank Nelson Wilcox (October 3, 1887 – April 1...
Category

1920s American Modern Wayne Thiebaud Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Fall Fields
By David Hayes
Located in Lawrence, NY
Gouache on paper signed en verso Throughout his sixty-year artistic career, David Hayes created sculptural forms abstracted from organic forms encountered in daily life. He first st...
Category

1980s American Modern Wayne Thiebaud Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gouache

Wayne Thiebaud landscape drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Wayne Thiebaud landscape drawings and watercolors available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Wayne Thiebaud in paint, watercolor and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 1950s and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Wayne Thiebaud landscape drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 33 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of William Grauer, Alfred Bendiner, and Francis Chapin. Wayne Thiebaud landscape drawings and watercolors prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $950,000 and tops out at $950,000, while the average work can sell for $950,000.
Questions About Wayne Thiebaud Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
  • 1stDibs ExpertMarch 15, 2024
    Wayne Thiebaud used a variety of mediums to produce his paintings, drawings and prints. The brilliant late artist worked in charcoal, graphite, ballpoint, oil paint, ink, colored pencil, watercolor, pastel and gouache. He is best known for his works depicting everyday objects, such as cosmetics, desserts and paint cans. On 1stDibs, find a selection of Wayne Thiebaud art.
  • 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022
    Wayne Thiebaud is often associated with the pop art movement because he focused on common objects. His particular style predates the pop art movement, which accounts for the sometimes classification and the influences of modern art in his work as well. On 1stDibs, find a variety of original artwork from top artists.
  • 1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022
    Wayne Thiebaud became interested in art he saw in the world around him as a child. When he was a teenager, he made money designing posters for a cinema in his town. He received his formal education from Long Beach Polytechnic High School and the Frank Wiggins Trade School in Los Angeles. On 1stDibs, shop a range of Wayne Thiebaud art.
  • 1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022
    Wayne Thiebaud used oil paints, pastels and charcoal to produce his paintings. In addition to painting, the artist produced etches, lithographs, linocuts and silkscreens. His paintings of pastries and landscapes are especially well known. Shop a range of Wayne Thiebaud art on 1stDibs.

Recently Viewed

View All