Wayne Thiebaud (1920–2021)
1956
Mixed media on board
In 1956, Wayne Thiebaud travelled to New York from California to spend time among leading artists who were associated with Abstract Expressionism. Their influence is discernible in this painting’s energetic brushstrokes and loosely handled paint. However, Thiebaud’s enduring interest in depicting objects of American life fundamentally separated him from that movement. The iconic form of a Coca-Cola bottle appears on the left of this scene. Perhaps surprisingly, he did not return to this subject in his later work. In contrast, gumball and pinball machines continued to fascinate him and were major subjects of his breakthrough paintings of the 1960s.