Wayne Thiebaud

Explores Wayne Thiebaud's career as a self-described "thief" who appropriated and reinterpreted old and new European and American artworks.

Although artist Wayne Thiebaud (1920–2021) earned acclaim for his poetic renderings of the prosaic particulars of American life, he openly admitted that "it's hard for me to think of artists who weren't influential on me, because I'm such a blatant thief." Wayne Thiebaud: Art Comes from Art features the artist's virtuosic appropriations and reinterpretations of old and new European and American artworks, spanning from Andrea Mantegna to Édouard Manet, Henri Matisse to Richard Diebenkorn, offering crucial insights into his creative process.

Thiebaud's exploration of art, artists, and art history—along with the practices of copying, appropriation, and reinterpretation—allowed him not only to see through the eyes of other artists but also to commune with them through their work, expanding his own vision. This career-long engagement with the concept of appropriation illustrates his perception of art history as an encyclopedic "bureau of standards"—a rich repository and resource that offers working artists community with their predecessors and communion with their artworks.

Published in association with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Exhibition dates:

Legion of Honor: March 22–August 17, 2025