Wayne Thiebaud’s Sweet Paintings and Sharon Core’s Take on Them

Helena Pereira 10 October 2018 min Read

For centuries we have seen artists copying others’ work in order to learn how to draw correctly or to find out what style they want to follow. But what if in the 21st-century copying was used for another reason? What if photographs copied paintings, turning what is imaginary into something real? And what if those photographs had a hidden meaning in them? To learn more about that you will need to dive into Wayne Thiebaud’s sweet paintings and Sharon Core’s take on them.

Wayne Thiebaud, Confettis, 40.64 x 50.8 cm, oil on canvas, 1962, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Source: https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/2014.343
Wayne Thiebaud, Confettis, oil on canvas, 1962, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Wayne Thiebaud (born in 1920) is an American painter mostly known for his paintings of sweets that leave our mouth watering. There are cakes, loads of them, ice creams, and bubblegum. The pastel tones are also a typical characteristic of his works which are usually painted with backgrounds in cold colours which contrast with, for example, red, pink and orange tints of the main subject.

Besides that, Thiebaud also paints other things like lipsticks, teddy bears and even San Francisco street views. Because he paints banal objects, he is sometimes incorrectly associated with Pop Art but on the contrary to other Pop artists, Thiebaud works from life and not from media images. Another difference is that his brushstrokes are notably loose, opposite to the mechanical reproduction of the hard-edge paintings from Pop artists like Andy Warhol and James Rosenquist.

Most of these works show more than one sweet in each painting and we can always see Thiebaud’s artistic traits: he chooses to eliminate the details that don’t matter and at the same time he includes bits of his personal experience and some optical nuances.

Wayne Thiebaud, Dessert Tray, oil on canvas, 1992-1994, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Source: https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/97.880
Wayne Thiebaud, Dessert Tray, oil on canvas, 1992-1994, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Wayne Thiebaud, Valley Streets, 121.92 x 152.4 cm, oil on canvas, 2003, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Source: https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/FC.732
Wayne Thiebaud, Valley Streets, oil on canvas, 2003, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Thiebaud moved to California where he became interested in stage design and lighting and we can see how big of an impact it had on his paintings. The lighting is always strong and well fitted to the objects always represented with their corresponding correctly executed shadows. And in most of the works, the cakes or ice creams seem to be placed on some kind of a stage which highlights their importance.

We can all agree that these works make us crave sweets, right? And what if I tell you that some of these cakes, ice creams and pies were really made just a  couple of years ago?

Confused?

Well, to explain I now have to introduce you to Sharon Core (born 1965), an American photographer who was awarded the George Sakier Memorial Prize for Excellence in Photography in 1998 at the Yale University School of Art.

Sharon Core, 1614 (from the series 1606-1907), archival pigment print, 2017, Tracey Morgan Gallery. Source: https://www.traceymorgangallery.com/exhibitions/sharon-core
Sharon Core, 1614 (from the series “1606-1907”), archival pigment print, 2017, Tracey Morgan Gallery. Source: traceymorgangallery.com

Core works in series in which she recreates paintings, most of them are still lifes. And what is even more interesting is that she personally assembles all the elements she needs to take the picture in question.

For example, she has a series dedicated to Raphaelle Peale, an American painter that dedicated his work to still lifes full of flowers, fruits and animals. When Core recreated Peale’s paintings, she herself planted the flowers and fruits and then arranged them to look like they do in the paintings.

Raphaelle Peale, Blackberries, 18.4 x 26 cm, oil on wood panel, ca. 1813. Source: https://blvrd.com/portfolio-posts/blackberries/
Raphaelle Peale, Blackberries, 18.4 x 26 cm, oil on wood panel, ca. 1813. Source: blvrd.com
Sharon Core, Early American - Blackberries, 30.5 x 45.1 cm, analogue C-Print, 2008. Source: https://time.com/3798022/painting-with-a-camera-sharon-cores-early-american/
Sharon Core, Early American – Blackberries, analogue C-Print, 2008. Source: time.com

As you probably guessed by now, she has a series dedicated to Wayne Thiebaud.

In this case, she didn’t need to grow plants but instead, she made all the cakes, pies, ice creams and what not from scratch. She has training in both painting and pastry, so she just had to use her skills.

For most of the recreations Core just saw photos of the paintings rather than original works, which is interesting because in a way she was returning to the first idea that Thiebaud must have had when he pictured what he wanted to paint: that when we think of something, our thought is like a photograph that we then turn into something real.

Wayne Thibeaud, Cakes, 152x183 cm, oil on canvas, 1963. Source: https://foodoncanvas.eu/wayne-thiebaud-cakes-1963/
Wayne Thibeaud, Cakes,  oil on canvas, 1963. Source: foodoncanvas.eu
Sharon Core, Thiebauds - Cakes, analogue C-Print, 152.4 x 172.9 cm, 2003. Source: https://hyperallergic.com/245428/a-poetics-of-appropriation-on-sharon-core/
Sharon Core, Thiebauds – Cakes, analogue C-Print, 2003. Source: hyperallergic.com

The most interesting part of Core’s photography has to do with what Walter Benjamin called “aura”. The aura has to do with how a work of art was made. If it was made by hand, like a painting or a sculpture, it has an aura, because it has the touch of the artist’s hand. But if it was made via mechanical reproduction, as it happens with photography, it does not have it.

But Sharon Core’s photography has a different type of aura because it does not take her only a few seconds or minutes to click the button on her camera. She has to wait hours for the cake and pies to be ready and to look exactly like in Thiebaud’s paintings, and in the case of Peale’s paintings, she has to wait months for the flowers and fruits to grow until she can use them. So the labour and time that Core invests in the photos most probably exceed the time Thiebaud took to paint.

Wayne Thiebaud, Salads, Sandwishes, and Desserts, oil on canvas, 1962, Walker Art Center. Source: https://www.artsy.net/artwork/wayne-thiebaud-salads-sandwiches-and-desserts
Wayne Thiebaud, Salads, Sandwishes, and Desserts, oil on canvas, 1962, Walker Art Center. Source: artsy.net
Sharon Core, Thiebauds - Salads, Sandwishes, and Desserts, analogue C-Print, 139.7 x 182.9 cm, 2003. Source: https://hyperallergic.com/245428/a-poetics-of-appropriation-on-sharon-core/
Sharon Core, Thiebauds – Salads, Sandwiches, and Desserts, analogue C-Print, 2003. Source: hyperallergic.com

I think that we all can agree that Wayne Thiebaud most probably did not bake the cakes he painted. But, as I already said, Sharon Core did really bake what she photographed. This way we can also assume that she is making a subtle critique of the privileges that male artists have since they rarely have to make household chores…

Wayne Thiebaud, Bakery Counter, oil on canvas, 1962, Ebsworth Living Trust. Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rocor/39884494361
Wayne Thiebaud, Bakery Counter, oil on canvas, 1962, Ebsworth Living Trust
Sharon Core, Thiebauds- Bakery Counter, analogue C-print, 2008. Source: https://hyperallergic.com/245428/a-poetics-of-appropriation-on-sharon-core/
Sharon Core, Thiebauds- Bakery Counter, analogue C-print, 2008. Source: hyperallergic.com

We can say that Core’s photographs really do alter the depicted objects’ status. With a painting, we never know if the objects we see did really exist or were just part of the painters’ imagination. But in a photograph, we know that what is shown is real. Core’s photographs literalize Thiebaud’s paintings and bring them to our world of reality.

Remember – don’t play with your food! Unless it’s art…

[easyazon_image align=”none” height=”160″ identifier=”0847846164″ locale=”US” src=”https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/61w9li4ZPaL.SL160.jpg” tag=”dailyartdaily-20″ width=”135″] [easyazon_image align=”none” height=”160″ identifier=”0500021899″ locale=”US” src=”https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/51T2yfU4t8L.SL160.jpg” tag=”dailyartdaily-20″ width=”126″] [easyazon_image align=”none” height=”160″ identifier=”0295962690″ locale=”US” src=”https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/41OGsZEMEwL.SL160.jpg” tag=”dailyartdaily-20″ width=”125″][easyazon_image align=”none” height=”160″ identifier=”1934435465″ locale=”US” src=”https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/41OU4hQkO6L.SL160.jpg” tag=”dailyartdaily-20″ width=”130″]

Get your daily dose of art

Click and follow us on Google News to stay updated all the time

Recommended

Herstory

Female Rage in Art

Since Auguste Toulmouche’s 1866 masterpiece The Reluctant Bride recently captured the internet’s attention, discussions about female rage...

Martha Teverson 6 May 2024

European Art

Paul Gauguin in 10 Paintings

Paul Gauguin is a revolutionary and savage in the art of the late 19th century, an artist rejected by society. A man who quit his job at the stock...

Valeria Kumekina 27 November 2023

Art Forms

The Best Street Art in Athens, Greece

Athens is a strange city. On the one hand, you can see the monuments and relics of Ancient Greece that stand haughtily and imposingly. On the other...

Errika Gerakiti 8 May 2023

Art State of Mind

10 Sunny Beaches in Art

Do you remember the joy of being on the beach? How warm, how sunny, how glorious! If you miss the light and warmth, join us to explore the ten most...

Joanna Kaszubowska 23 March 2024