Wayne Thiebaud: Tender Yet Powerful, Betty Jean Forever
One of the last paintings at the end of the Wayne Thiebaud exhibition “Art comes from Art” at the Legion of Honor is named “One-Hundred-Year-Old Clown”, dated year 2020, when Thiebaud was 100 years old. Looking slightly down, wearing a dark blue hat and black coat, a sadness crept into the painting is almost touchable. The clown clearly depicts Thiebaud, poignant with a slight wry smile; perhaps he was mourning life without his beloved wife, Betty Jean Carr Thiebaud, a documentary filmmaker, who died almost exactly a year before he passed away, at the age of 86, after 56 years of marriage and being together.
One of the most celebrated and beloved painters in American art history, Thiebaud is best known for his whimsical stylization of everyday objects, surreal landscapes and detached figurative. He immersed the ordinary mundane objects - pies, cakes, ice cream cones, hot dogs, French fries, cans, utensils - in exaggerated colors and heavy shadows, made them playful and charming into fine arts. His vertiginous cityscapes and landscapes with exaggerated proportions and impossible angles depict a dreamland space in a fantasy world. Much like his still lifes, Thiebaud’s figurative works focus on composition and color; they breathe an innate coolness and detachment with little narrative. Often named “figures” such as “Five Seated Figures” and “Eating Figures”, the deliberate stillness, space and formality in the figurative posture emphasize structure than the emotional depth and storytelling.
However, portraits of Betty Jean feel different. They are not austere, but tender; they are quiet, but powerful. Betty Jean was the famed muse of many of her husband’s distinguished figurative paintings in oil, acrylic and pastel, for over 50 years. Included in the collection are 13 pieces of them, including Girl with Ice Cream, Betty Jean Thiebaud and Book, Betty Jean 1965, Tapestry Skirt, Betty Jean 1985, Woman in White Hat, etc.
Thiebaud’s portrayal of Betty Jean usually contains serene gaze, elegant posture and poised manner, a classic beauty. In “Tapestry Skirt” (1976), Betty Jean sits on a chair with her legs slightly bent and extended, covered under a long tapestry skirt in purple, green and blue. She wears a white sleeveless top, has short hair in a bob style, with her head turning right to gaze straight at the audience. Thiebaud’s passionate engagement in art history is fully reflected in this painting as it reminds audience of "Whistler's Mother," officially titled “Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1”, a famous painting by James McNeill Whistler, completed in 1871. Considered a seminal work of American art for its innovative approach to portrait, “Whistler’s Mother” demonstrates minimalist composition, muted color pallet and tonal harmonies. In contrast, “Tapestry Skirt” features a beautiful Betty Jean in colors with a slight smile, with subtle
intimacy and quiet affection reflected in her bright gaze, calming light and sheen of her smooth skin.
In contrast of the stylized and the theatrical, another signature of Thiebaud’s paintings, the whimsical and playful side, also comes out in Betty Jean portraits. In “Gril with Ice Cream” (1963), bare feet Betty Jean sits on the floor, wearing a blue and green bathing suit, with her legs split apart, holding a pink ice cream cone at her mouth, her dark hair draping down her strong shoulders. Thiebaud stated that Betty Jean was one of his favorite subject to paint. Indeed, in his signature use of colors, shadows and the detached coolness, that almost touchable tender affection and sensitivity permeate the portrait.
Thiebaud had his first solo art show in San Francisco in 1906, and the couple lived their entire married life in Sacramento County for over half a century. Showcasing Thiebaud’s collection of influential work from the art history alongside his own masterpieces feels especially nostalgic in San Francisco, for a begone era. Wayne Thiebaud, Art Comes from Art, through August 17, Legion of Honor.