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The Arts Intel Report

Wayne Thiebaud

Wayne Thiebaud, Eating Figures (Quick Snack), 1963.

Jan 29 – May 21, 2023
Baselstrasse 101, 4125 Basel, Switzerland

When he was a boy, the California artist Wayne Thiebaud helped out at the Ringling Brothers circus in exchange for tickets. The circus may have left town but it never left Thiebaud. As a high school student he apprenticed at the Walt Disney Studios as an animator, and found drawing for children enthralling. He went on to work as an illustrator, living between Los Angeles and New York from 1938 to 1949, before becoming a full-time artist. Thiebaud died in December 2021, at 101 years of age. His joie de vivre lasted until the end, in paintings permeated with remembered innocence. Still lifes, portraits, landscapes, and cityscapes are all on view in this retrospective. —Elena Clavarino

Photo: © Foundation/2022, ProLitteris, Zurich