AR 21THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2010

By HILARIE M. SHEETS

IN 1951, a decade before Wayne Thiebaud became famousfor his still lifes of cakes and pies, he had his first one-man museum show at the Crocker Art Museum in Sac-ramento, where he had recently moved. The Crocker

has been closely linked to the artist ever since, mountingseveral large solo exhibitions of his work over the years andletting him riffle through its storage rooms for inspiration.Now, with the museum reopening on Oct. 10 after a majorexpansion, Mr. Thiebaud is returning the favor with a gift:his new painting “River Intersection,” based on the snakingwaterways and cultivated fields of the Sacramento RiverDelta. Since the mid-1990s, when he began a series devotedto this landscape, Mr. Thiebaud has found the palette andpatterns offered by the delta region to be a rich source of in-spiration.

He began the painting by walking around the fields andlevees — sometimes climbing them to get higher vantagepoints — and making sketches and studies that he later re-configured from memory back in the studio. “‘River Inter-

section’ tries to express various seasons, various times ofthe day, various vantage points, and then tries to get thething to come together like a whole,” he said. “For me,painting has a lot to do with the exercise of empathy, whereyou have to believe that you’re walking the path or underthe trees, that you are somehow able to transfer yourselfinto that picture.”

Scott Shields, the museum’s chief curator and organizerof “Wayne Thiebaud: Homecoming,” which will run untilNov. 28, said: “A river scene was the piece of the puzzle thatwe lacked for our collection. Thiebaud chooses things heknows really well. That’s true of the landscapes, it’s true ofthe people. He loved his pies. It was the way he started, andI don’t think he’s ever gotten away from that.”

ART

CLOSER LOOK

A Riverscape,From Higher

Ground

CROCKER ART MUSEUM, GIFT OF THE THIEBAUD FAMILY

THEMATIC LINKS Similar tothe exhilaratingperspectives in hiscityscapes of San Francisco— another man-madelandscape — here Mr.Thiebaud lets the viewersoar over the river, thoughin the earlier series he oftensituates the viewer at thefoot of his precipitousstreets. The repetition of theplanted rows and play ofshapes in the quiltlikefarmland echo the serialmarch and geometry of thecakes and pies in hissignature still lifes.Whether displayingdesserts or the bountifulCalifornia landscape, hiswork exudes aquintessential kind ofAmerican abundance.

PALETTE Mr. Thiebaud usesthe interaction of hishigh-keyed palette —juxtaposing warm tones withcool — to create a sense oflight emanating from thepainting. The mocha hue ofthe river seems to glowagainst the melancholic blueshadows of the trees liningthe river’s edge. Typical ofhis work, Mr. Thiebaudmade halos around theseshadows with bits of othercolors to produce visualvibrations.

INFLUENCES Pierre Bonnardwas front of mind while theartist was working.“Bonnard uses color likehe’s got a bucket full of hotcoals and ice cubes,” Mr.Thiebaud said. The use ofgolden light anddiagrammatic, maplikespace in the painting is alsoinformed by Mr. Thiebaud’slongtime interest inByzantine illuminatedmanuscripts. In a nod toChinese landscape painting,he inserted tiny objects tocreate disparities in scale,like the little farmhousenear the upper right cornerand mechanical farm toolsthat read as specks in thefields.

AFFINITY FOR LANDSCAPE

Besides his familiarity withthis California farmland formost of his adult life, Mr.Thiebaud spent some of hischildhood on his familyranch in Southern Utah,where he plowed andharvested the fields. “Thewonderful patterns anddesign motifs that crop up inagriculture fascinate me,” hesaid. Mr. Shields said of“River Intersection”: “It’salmost like he’s tending thefields with his brushwork,echoing the shape of thecultivated land.”

PLAYING WITH PERSPECTIVE Mr.Thiebaud creates avertiginous sense of space bysuppressing the horizon lineand seamlessly shiftingbetween aerial mapping anda more standardvanishing-point perspective.The lower half of the river isshown from above while theupper part seems to tip backin space as it forks. The flat,patterned fields are picturedfrom a bird’s-eye view, whiletrees pop out, castingshadows, as though seenfrom varying side angles.“I’m orchestrating with asmuch variety and tempo as Ican,” Mr. Thiebaud said.

More images and past coverage of the artist’s work: nytimes.com/design

ONLINE: WAYNE THIEBAUD

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