Formal art evaluation

‘Cakes’ 1963

Oil on canvas (152.4x182.9cm)

Wayne Thiebaud

‘Cakes’ was painted by the renowned American pop artist Wayne Thiebaud who at the time of this painting was one of the forerunners of the art movement ‘Pop Art’. At this time Thiebaud had become interested in painting objects of mass culture such as cake counters and lipstick and focusing on their basic shapes and composition which is seen with the emphasised roundness of the cakes in his painting.

‘Cakes’ depicts a still life of a row of different round cakes on plates similar to a bakery display counter. The painting is quite realistic although it cannot be called completely work of realism as the shapes and colours have been emphasised and focused on which shows Thiebaud was not completely trying to be true to the objects of his painting.

I was drawn to the painting I found the simple but effective use of bright candy colours and composition of the piece. I thought that it had an overall warm and familiar feel to the painting displaying an everyday scene that many can relate to. The image also related to the direction my project was heading as the photos I had taken reminded me of rococo dresses which in turn reminded me of cakes and icing.

Medium: Oil paint on canvas. Used because of its texture and finish but taking a long time to dry.

Line: Predominately curved lines because of the roundness of the objects.

Colour: Expressive use of warm candy colours that harmonise and give a light hearted mood.

Light: The light seems synthetic and is coming from the top left and the shadow is on the right side of the cakes.

Space: The spacing is even between the cakes bringing equal attention to the various cakes.

Composition: The composition is ordered in such a way as to put across the mass production culture of society by painting the cakes in rows and in synthetic colours.

Style: The style is of the art movement ‘Pop art’ which started around the 1960s era with its unconventional subject matter and use of formal elements.

This painting has inspired my work in concentrating on shape (circles in particular), and using bright candy colours in my own works. I’ve learnt that an artist’s theme or subjects do not have to be complicated to be effective that it is the formal elements that decide whether the piece will be successful or not.