The Library Gallery’s new exhibit, featuring a collection by world-famous contemporary artist and Sacramento State alumnus, Wayne Thiebaud, will be a traveling exhibit designed to showcase Sac State on a national level.

The exhibit will be open to the public Dec. 3 through March 6, 2010. Those who attend will be able to view about 100 items in the Thiebaud collection and learn about the life and work of Thiebaud.

“Each piece will give our students a tremendous opportunity to study the work of a world-class artist,” said President Alexander Gonzalez, whose Destination 2010 initiative inspired the exhibit.

Thiebaud is often described as an artist of the pop art movement. A style that emerged in the U.S. in the late 1950s, pop art is characterized by its artistic representations of mass culture. This art often displays things such as advertisements, comic books and everyday objects.

“Pop art, for me, is something that’s not very interesting on the whole,” Thiebaud said.

Instead, Thiebaud chooses to call his art “representational.”

“(It’s) old fashioned, traditional painting and I try to bring it up to some kind of interest in contemporary life and time,” Thiebaud said.

His more recent works of San Francisco streetscapes, which are more realistic and less abstract, are closely associated with photorealism and figurative painting.

Thiebaud’s art style can be recognized by his use of heavy pigment, exaggerated colors and well-defined shadows to depict his subjects.

Although Thiebaud’s art style has changed over the years, Thiebaud is most known for his prints and paintings of common objects such as cakes, pastries, boots, toilets, toys and lipsticks.

The Thiebaud collection was given to Sac State by an anonymous donor in 2004. The Library Gallery exhibit is the largest public display of Thiebaud’s work.

Included in Sac State’s Thiebaud collection is a finished painting, accompanied by 17 preliminary drawings leading up to the finished product. Eight of these drawings are being exhibited at the Library Gallery.

“One who looks at this collection is going to learn a lot about printmaking,” said Phil Hitchcock, Library Gallery director. “Wayne Thiebaud and Picasso are probably the two most known, recognized 20th century artists who do paint but are also quite well known for their prints.”

Hitchcock said the collection is meant to give Sac State prominence as it will travel around the United States and Europe.

“The Thiebaud collection is precisely the type of community support we envisioned under Destination 2010,” Gonzalez said. “The exhibit will strengthen Sacramento State’s connection with the community.”

Hitchcock said Sac State is privileged to feature such a respected artist.

“He’s one of the most famous artists living in the world right now,” Hitchcock said. “There’s not too many institutions in the United States that can boast of an alumni with this kind of reputation.”

Thiebaud is the recipient of three successful degrees from Sac State including a bachelor’s degree in art in 1951, a master’s degree in art in 1953 and an honorary doctorate in fine arts in 1998.

Before coming to Sac State, Thiebaud worked as a cartoonist and designer in California and New York and served as an artist in the United States Army Air Force.

Christo Reynen, a graduate art student, said Thiebaud’s experience with cartooning and sketching is evident in his work.

“This show is a series of etchings, lithographs and wood blocks and you can really see his illustration background on the walls here,” Reynen said.

Fred Dalkey, a fellow artist and friend of Thiebaud’s, said the exhibit shows an evolution of Thiebaud’s style over a period of 60 years.

Dalkey attributes Thiebaud’s success as an artist to his work ethic.

“He’s an enormously hard worker,” Dalkey said. “Even now, fairly late in his work, he continues to work like a young person, with an added enthusiasm and a burning desire.”

Dalkey said Thiebaud’s education has played an important role in his art.

“He’s a very well-traveled and very well-read person,” Dalkey said. “He’s probably the most educated artist I’ve ever known, in terms of his knowledge about art and his experience in looking at it.”

Thiebaud’s son, Matt Bult, is also an artist. His artwork is on display in the adjoining annex gallery from Dec. 3 to Jan. 23.

Bult said he hopes students will learn style and technique from the father-son exhibit.

“Especially in Wayne’s things, you can see how different things are laid out, how he does under-drawings for things,” Bult said. “In my work, I think maybe you can see how I use common elements, found objects, how I’m reusing things to kind of make a different visual realm out of them.”

Thiebaud said he is happy his son is exhibiting with him. At the Dec. 3 opening reception, Thiebaud took the time to study and evaluate his son’s work.

Hitchcock said Bult’s style is very different from Thiebaud’s.

“Matt’s (style) is more abstract. There’s collages and paintings and sculpture in Matt’s. There’s no prints,” Hitchcock said.

Thiebaud said he is “flattered” his son is taking his own approach to art.

“Everybody should work in their own manner, what they love, what they want to do,” Thiebaud said.

Although Sac State is fortunate to feature such recognized collections from both father and son, Hitchcock said this is not the first time the Library Gallery has displayed prominent work. The Bay Area Figurative collection and works by Robert Therrien are examples of other world-class exhibitions previously featured at Sac State.

Inna Gritsak can be reached at [email protected].