Potrero Hill
Artist:
Wayne Thiebaud
(American, 1920 - 2021)
Date: 1976
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
36 x 44 in. (91.4 x 111.8 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Brown Foundation, and the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation
Object number: 78.301
Copyright: © Wayne Thiebaud / Licensed by VAGA at ARS, New York
Label Text
The quirky and dramatically curving slopes of San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood, where Wayne Thiebaud’s home and studio were located at the time, inspired this work. The artist initially painted outdoors from direct observation but later found that his imagination had freer rein if he composed his paintings from memory in the studio. This example is characteristic of his style: the surfaces are defined by thick paint and clear contours, and the features are exaggerated, including the steep curvature of the road, the contrast of sunlight and shadow, and the disparity in scale between the landscape and the cars and homes that inhabit it.
Wayne Thiebaud and Richard Diebenkorn (see nearby) were among a group of artists working in San Francisco in the 1960s that rejected Abstract Expressionism, which had come to prominence in the 1950s. They were part of the Bay Area Figurative Movement whose members chose instead to represent the local landscape, figurative subjects, and genre scenes.
(Label text, 2017)
Wayne Thiebaud and Richard Diebenkorn (see nearby) were among a group of artists working in San Francisco in the 1960s that rejected Abstract Expressionism, which had come to prominence in the 1950s. They were part of the Bay Area Figurative Movement whose members chose instead to represent the local landscape, figurative subjects, and genre scenes.
(Label text, 2017)
On view
In Collection(s)
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
