Yes, I know. San Franciscans insist that this is not a real intersection, but as Wayne Thiebaud says of his work, he makes “conscious decisions to include or exclude details, put in personal experiences and perceptual nuances to give the paintings more of a multi-dimension…” artnet.com. Here one has to say that the “perceptual nuances” carry the day. Being able to look downhill onto the top of a building as your brakes burn while your car slides down this precipice is a distinctly San Francisco experience, as well demonstrated by Thiebaud here. My personal experience involved the hill at Taylor and California, a hill so steep that the accompanying sidewalk has steps to help pedestrians climb. I remember anxious moments when my car had to stop for the red light before I crested the hill. There I would sit with both the brakes and the handbrake engaged to help fight gravity. A grand view of the sky was all that was before me while I endured an interminable wait for the green light.
But back to Thiebaud’s painting, where we can see the combination of all of his fine skills, as well as his perceptions and experiences. Thiebaud started as a youngster with stage design and poster art, even doing a summer apprenticeship at Disney Studios. Born in 1920, by the time he was ready to start a career, the Great Depression had been going on for quite a while, so his original love for fine art turned to the practicality of commercial art. It wasn’t until after World War II and when he was in his 30s that he decided to go into fine art, earning both a B.F.A. and an M.F.A. from what are now California State Universities at San Jose and Sacramento respectively. That commercial art background, however, can be seen in the finely drawn buildings and in the design of the painting above. Thiebaud expresses great respect for commercial artists, saying, “Those wonderful people showed me what to do – sign painters, women’s fashion illustrators. There’s lots of craft in it and that is admirable.” (quote from theartstory.org)
Thiebaud gives the viewer much more than a look at the dizzying heights. His use of a sharp diagonal from left to right, with that “catch your breath” flat intersection before you continue on downhill, slips the eye quickly across the whole painting. As you look straight ahead, your upcoming descent is cut off from view by the sharp gash 24th street makes through the descent of the hillside, which echoes that of the street (Mariposa?) that crosses in front of you. Looking straight ahead is what you must do to keep any sense of balance when viewing this painting. If you let that sharp diagonal catch you, you begin to slide right off the edge of the picture plane. No wonder Vertigo was partially filmed in San Francisco.
Thiebaud does give us a bit of a break by his use of rather calming colors. The streets are in pale green-gray or blue-gray, and the sky is an overcast beige with a hint of pearly gray. Nothing to further excite the nerves there. The yellow double lines on the street indicate that there was some order intended in the construction of these streets. The power lines add another touch of humans imposing themselves on nature, as do the buildings. Yet, the whole thing is precarious as only a few grasses, four trees and these concrete streets hold that hillside in place. The slightest rumble in the earth (this is San Francisco, after all) could bring the whole thing crashing down. However, in the meantime, some semblance of order is maintained by the grid of the streets, which serves as a trailblazing marker telling drivers, “Yes, you can do this.”
The Ripley Street Ridge (1976) is another of Thiebaud’s vertiginous San Francisco landscapes. In someways, the fact that he represents this day of sunshine on pastel colored houses backed by a bright blue, fogless sky seems more like a reminiscence of his childhood in Los Angeles. Yet we have that San Francisco touch of the hillside that disappears into thin air. The street is populated by shadows, each outline indicating the distinct personality of the dwelling involved.
Wayne Thiebaud spent time in New York in the mid-to-late 1950s where he came to know Wilhem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, Franz Kline, and Jasper Johns. It was there where he began the works that he is most famous for, paintings of cakes, pies, and other sweet treats. However, his work can’t really be classified as part of the Pop Art that came in the 1960s. That has to do with his fine selection of details to leave in and ones to leave out and the creation of that feeling of multi-dimension. “This results in a kind of abstraction and thus avoids the pitfalls of mere decoration.” (Thiebaud quote from artnet.com)
In recent years, Thiebaud has done a wonderful series of California paintings that include rivers, mountains and cities. In terms of the diversity in his painting, which also includes figures and portraits, Thiebaud says, “I don’t make a lot of distinctions between things like landscape and figure painting because to me the problems are the same – lighting, color, structure and so on – certainly traditional and ordinary problems.”theartstory.org
My first love, as a former San Franciscan, will always be his wonderful paintings of The City. No one captures its unusual topography and that particularly San Franciscan idea of living on the edge better that Thiebaud. One painting that can give a full appreciation of this wild and unusual mix is Civic Center (1986). Tall buildings, tall hills, the “Crookedest Street” and everything vertical, welcome to San Francisco!
There are some wonderful articles on Thiebaud’s new series of paintings like “City, River and Mountain: Wayne Thiebaud’s California” editions.lib.umn.edu For a discussion of his other work, as well as the San Francisco paintings, here is a video done by Smithsonian Magazine youtube.com To see Thiebaud talk about another artist’s work, see this video of the artist talking about The Horse Fair by Rosa Bonheur (1855), which he did as part of The Artist Project. youtube.com
Images’ copyright Wayne Thiebaud and used here according to Fair Use Policy only for purposes of critique, review and discussion.
Marjorie Vernelle is an artist, writer, college professor, and traveler. For more see the Pages at ofartandwine.comor her author page at amazon.com and her art at Vernelle Art Boutique vernellestudio.com.
Napa Valley Wine, Real and Virtual!
The Los Carneros region spans both the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. Though grapes for wine have been grown in the area since the 1830s, the famous Petaluma Gap in the mountains leaves this area subject to the cool, wet winds from the Pacific Ocean. In the early 20th century, Prohibition and an infestation of phylloxera, an aphid that feasts on the roots of grape vines, caused it to come late to the boon in Napa Valley wines. However, the area has played a good game of catch up since the 1970s. The famous French champagne company, Taittinger, created the masterpiece we see here in 1987 when it purchased its first acreage in the valley. It focused on Brut and Blanc de Blancs sparkling wines using the méthode traditionelle, with their La Rêve Blanc de Blancs being their dream (la rêve) of a premium sparkling wine. However, they also specialize in making Pinot Noir, that most drinkable of reds. Visit their website for more information domainecarneros.com.
I am sure you have guessed by reading some of the posts in this blog that I love sparkling wines, and yes, we here in the U.S. can call ours champagne because we did not sign a treaty allowing only the French Champagne region to use that title (bad on us/good on us). Among Napa Valley champagne producers, my heart belongs to Domaine Chandon. Partially this is because many years ago (that’s all I shall say about that), my landscape paintings were shown in their very lovely Etoile Restuarant, where the walls between the vast windows that looked out onto the vineyards held my landscape views of the valley countryside.
Domaine Chandon was started in 1973 by Moet et Chandon, another famous maker of champagne from France. They created not only excellent sparkling wines in Brut and Rosé styles, to which they give the name étoile or “star” but also still wines, including Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The last two come from the Los Carneros vineyards.
Those wonderful hills along the eastern side of the Napa Valley hold treasures. One of them is Sterling Vineyards. High on a hill with a commanding view of the whole valley, it sits in pristine white, like a modern version of a medieval mountaintop monastery. Like many of those old monasteries, it makes wonderful wine. While they make white wines, it is their reds that take center stage. From Merlots to Cabernets to Sangiovese, Sterling reds are just that -sterling – and of course, the view isn’t half bad either.
The Auberge du Soleil has to be my number one pick for the finest view of the valley from the best hilltop location. The drive down the Silverado trail is quite fun in itself as it offers a different route through the valley than does HWY 29. Yes, it is a resort, and it must certainly be high on the list of A-list visitors, as from the terrace where one can have fine wine and delightful appetizers, one sees helicopters flying these special guests in and out. No, I never stayed there, but it was a favorite place to take visiting guests or simply to visit with a friend at the end of a Napa Valley day. Just take a look at the view from the terrace.
Of course, one could always also spend time in the lovely town of St. Helena, which over the years has become more and more like a California version of Provence, with lovely shops and such a cozy feeling. Not far away is Calistoga, a town with a really western feel and wonderful hot springs and mud baths. It is not a bad jumping off point for a wine touring mini-vacation. You can take glider plane rides across the valley, easily drive to wineries for tastings, and come back for a mudbath and massage.
Now for the moment, we have to do this wine tour virtually, but you will see that the wineries are offering virtual wine tastings, so check that out when you visit their websites. In the meantime, another way to enjoy good wine is to join a wine club. Take a look here on the right under Pages at Cellars Wine Club, or click here to go directly to their website cellarswineclub.com. You get free shipping, a wide variety of selections and a “no bad bottle” return policy. Note: I am an associate of Cellars Wine Club and may earn from qualifying purchases.
Thus ends my trip down memory lane shared with you in wholehearted affection and love of good wine and beautiful vineyards. Next we will be off to the West and Southwest, the land of fabulous skies, blue-violet mountains, and gorgeous paintings.
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©marjorie vernelle 2020
Coming next on OfArtandWine.com: West Southwest – Bierstadt, O’Keeffe, and More, plus Colorado Wine.
Please don’t think that Southwestern painting stopped with O’Keeffe. Just look at this beauty by Manitou Springs, Colorado, artist, Michael Baum. He is just continuing the tradition.