Wayne Thiebaud is an American painter known for his paintings of everyday objects like cakes, pastries, and cosmetics. He uses thick paint and exaggerated colors to depict his subjects, making them appear 3D and realistic. Though associated with Pop art for his focus on mass culture items, Thiebaud began creating these works in the 1950s, just before the Pop art movement. He includes heavy shadows in the style of advertisements, informed by his early career in advertising design.

1. Wayne Thiebaud
Wayne Thiebaud (born November 15, 1920) is an American painter
whose most famous works are of cakes, pastries, boots, toilets,
toys and lipsticks. He is associated with the Pop art movement
because of his interest in objects of mass culture, although his
works, executed during the fifties and sixties, slightly predate the
works of the classic pop artists. Thiebaud uses heavy pigment and
exaggerated colors to depict his subjects, and the well-defined
shadows characteristic of advertisements are almost always
included in his work.

2. An example of Thiebaud’s Ice Cream Cone Paintings
Does it look 3 –D to you? How do you think he makes his objects “pop”
out?

4. Gumballs! Can you see the shadows in this piece?

7. Before Theibaud was a painter he worked in
advertising. Does this lollipop painting make you
want to eat them?

8. Sometimes Thiebaud planned his paintings by
sketching first in colored chalk.

10. Do you see a pattern in his choice of shapes in the
paintings you’ve seen so far?