Around the Cake, Wayne Thiebaud

Artwork Overview

1920–2021
Around the Cake, 1962
Where object was made: United States
Material/technique: oil; canvas
Dimensions:
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 55.9 x 71.1 cm
Canvas/Support (Height x Width x Depth): 22 1/2 x 28 0.9921 in
Frame Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 23 1/2 x 29 5/8 x 2 1/2 in
Credit line: Gift of Ralph T. Coe in memory of Helen F. Spencer
Accession number: 1982.0144
On display: Loo Gallery

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Label texts

Spencer Museum of Art Highlights
Wayne Thiebaud drew inspiration from mass-produced objects and commercial food displays, making his works relatable to consumers and art lovers alike. This painting presents an indulgently frosted cake encircled by similar cake slices, as if on display in a supermarket or bakery. Intense shadows and vibrant colors mimic advertisements of the 1950s and 1960s while the heavily applied paint provides an illusion of realistic, thick frosting, which the artist described as a kind of metaphor for American overindulgence.
Displacement
Wayne Thiebaud’s painting of cake reflects his interest in mass-produced and widely available American consumer goods such as desserts, often opulently displayed in diner and cafeteria cases. Here the cake comes whole or by the slice, with all the decadent frosting anyone could want.
Displacement
Wayne Thiebaud’s painting of cake reflects his interest in mass-produced and widely available American consumer goods such as desserts, often opulently displayed in diner and cafeteria cases. Here the cake comes whole or by the slice, with all the decadent frosting anyone could want.
Bulldog Art Tour
Click on the audio tab above to listen to a student's interpretation of this object.
20/21
Wayne Thiebaud, a painter usually classified as Pop, began painting mass-produced foodstuffs in the 1950s. Prior to his painting career he was a commercial artist. Thiebaud, who considers himself more realist that Pop, paints common American edibles - pies, cakes, hotdogs, ice cream cones, -- which he says, “every American child has been brought up on.” He presents his subject with deadpan repetition, again a blank background, to demonstrate “how much alike yet how different an image can be.” Thiebaud works in an improvisational manner, creating each painting quickly from his imagination. Fascinated with Jasper John’s interplay between illusion and reality, Thiebaud playfully reconstructs the look and feel of real cake frosting. Of such creamy confections the artist says: “The decoration in Europe, particularly of cakes, seems more delicate. Here they are full of globs of material such as chocolate and cream. The materials are used as a kind of metaphor of plentitude. Americans always put on much more frosting, etc. than is needed.”
20/21
Wayne Thiebaud, a painter usually classified as Pop, began painting mass-produced foodstuffs in the 1950s. Prior to his painting career he was a commercial artist. Thiebaud, who considers himself more realist that Pop, paints common American edibles - pies, cakes, hotdogs, ice cream cones, -- which he says, “every American child has been brought up on.” He presents his subject with deadpan repetition, again a blank background, to demonstrate “how much alike yet how different an image can be.” Thiebaud works in an improvisational manner, creating each painting quickly from his imagination. Fascinated with Jasper John’s interplay between illusion and reality, Thiebaud playfully reconstructs the look and feel of real cake frosting. Of such creamy confections the artist says: “The decoration in Europe, particularly of cakes, seems more delicate. Here they are full of globs of material such as chocolate and cream. The materials are used as a kind of metaphor of plentitude. Americans always put on much more frosting, etc. than is needed.”
20/21
Wayne Thiebaud, a painter usually classified as Pop, began painting mass-produced foodstuffs in the 1950s. Prior to his painting career he was a commercial artist. Thiebaud, who considers himself more realist that Pop, paints common American edibles - pies, cakes, hotdogs, ice cream cones, -- which he says, “every American child has been brought up on.” He presents his subject with deadpan repetition, again a blank background, to demonstrate “how much alike yet how different an image can be.” Thiebaud works in an improvisational manner, creating each painting quickly from his imagination. Fascinated with Jasper John’s interplay between illusion and reality, Thiebaud playfully reconstructs the look and feel of real cake frosting. Of such creamy confections the artist says: “The decoration in Europe, particularly of cakes, seems more delicate. Here they are full of globs of material such as chocolate and cream. The materials are used as a kind of metaphor of plentitude. Americans always put on much more frosting, etc. than is needed.”
20/21
Wayne Thiebaud, a painter usually classified as Pop, began painting mass-produced foodstuffs in the 1950s. Prior to his painting career he was a commercial artist. Thiebaud, who considers himself more realist that Pop, paints common American edibles - pies, cakes, hotdogs, ice cream cones, -- which he says, “every American child has been brought up on.” He presents his subject with deadpan repetition, again a blank background, to demonstrate “how much alike yet how different an image can be.” Thiebaud works in an improvisational manner, creating each painting quickly from his imagination. Fascinated with Jasper John’s interplay between illusion and reality, Thiebaud playfully reconstructs the look and feel of real cake frosting. Of such creamy confections the artist says: “The decoration in Europe, particularly of cakes, seems more delicate. Here they are full of globs of material such as chocolate and cream. The materials are used as a kind of metaphor of plentitude. Americans always put on much more frosting, etc. than is needed.”
Archive Label 2009: Wayne Thiebaud, a painter usually classified as Pop, began painting mass-produced foodstuffs in the 1950s. Prior to his painting career he was a commercial artist. Thiebaud, who considers himself more realist that Pop, paints common American edibles - pies, cakes, hotdogs, ice cream cones, -- which he says, “every American child has been brought up on.” He presents his subject with deadpan repetition, again a blank background, to demonstrate “how much alike yet how different an image can be.” Thiebaud works in an improvisational manner, creating each painting quickly from his imagination. Fascinated with Jasper John’s interplay between illusion and reality, Thiebaud playfully reconstructs the look and feel of real cake frosting. Of such creamy confections the artist says: “The decoration in Europe, particularly of cakes, seems more delicate. Here they are full of globs of material such as chocolate and cream. The materials are used as a kind of metaphor of plentitude. Americans always put on much more frosting, etc. than is needed.”

Exhibitions

Resources

Audio

Links

Citations

Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas. The Register of the Spencer Museum of Art: Oriental Art Issue 6, no. 1, Spring (1984):

Aimone, Steven. Design! A Lively Guide to Design Basics for Artists & Craftspeople. New York: Lark Books, 2004

Bradrick, Jim. Fine Art Studio Drawing. San Diego: Silver Dolphin, 2004.

Brommer, Gerald F., and Nancy K. Kinne. Exploring Painting. Worcester, Massachusetts: Davis Publications, Inc, 2003.

Broun, Elizabeth. "Recent Gifts and Purchases, 1982-1983." Lawrence, Kansas: Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, 1983

Thomas, Michael, and Margaretta M. Lovell. Wayne Thiebaud: Mountains 1965-2019. New York: Acquavella Galleries, 2019.

Teagle, Rachel, ed. Wayne Thiebaud: 1958-1968. Davis, CA: Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, University of California, Davis, 2018.