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San Francisco West Side Ridge

  • Wayne Thiebaud, San Francisco West Side Ridge, 2001, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Sam Rose and Julie Walters, 2004.30.5

Gallery Label
Wayne Thiebaud was fascinated by the dramatic vistas and abrupt disjunctions of the San Francisco landscape. Denying the laws of normal perspective, San Francisco West Side Ridge is a commotion of rectangles, horizontals, and diagonals that thrust downward and obliquely to destabilize streets and urban buildings. Parked vehicles seem pinned to vertical curbs; turrets, palm trees, and a tiny figure on a balcony confirm life at the top of the precipice; and shadows cast by street lamps point like arrows to the dramatic drop-off at the right.
Title
San Francisco West Side Ridge
Artist
Wayne Thiebaud
Date
2001
On View
  1. Smithsonian American Art Museum
  2. 2nd Floor
  3. North Wing
Dimensions
36 x 36 in. (91.4 x 91.4 cm)
Copyright
Credit Line

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Gift of Sam Rose and Julie Walters

Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Painting
Keywords
  • Architecture Exterior – commercial
  • Cityscape – street
  • Cityscape – California – San Francisco
  • Cityscape – bird's eye view
Object Number
2004.30.5
Palette
Linked Open Data URI

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