When news of artist Wayne Thiebaud’s death circulated, I only had to look up to appreciate his work. I have an archival poster of the book The Physiology of Taste, crediting Thiebaud as the illustrator. The poster depicts a 1994 limited edition by Arion Press.
After attending a holiday book fair at the Writer’s Center, I later saw the poster in an online picture. It’s on the floor in the third image of this post.
I arranged to buy it and it has hung on my wall ever since.
In his 2019 book Delicious Metropolis, Thiebaud juxtaposes cityscapes and desserts. Quoting the publisher, the book is a “treat for art lovers, city-dwellers, and gourmets alike.” Who, me?
Behold two interpretations of cupcakes.
The artwork was shown in a Thiebaud exhibit at the Bologna Museum of Modern Art / Morandi Museum in 2011. This obituary includes a second Thiebaud painting of cupcakes.
Secondly, just a gratuitous picture to transition from Thiebaud’s interpretation to my modern cupcakology. Though the 2016 photograph is uncredited, the cupcakes display telltale signs of Georgetown Cupcake handiwork.
Depressed Cake Shop shares how cake can be a treatment for artistic and psychological therapy.
Thiebaud has inspired my cupcakology theme for 2022, the forthcoming Year of Cupcakes in the Delicious Metropolis. If all goes according to plan, this will be a transcontinental study.
Andrea Adleman | Cupcakologist 