
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
- Date
- 2001
- Location
- Dimensions
- 36 x 36 in. (91.4 x 91.4 cm)
- Credit Line
-
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Gift of Sam Rose and Julie Walters
- Mediums Description
- oil on canvas
- Classifications
- Keywords
-
- Architecture Exterior – commercial
- Cityscape – street
- Cityscape – California – San Francisco
- Cityscape – bird's eye view
- Object Number
-
2004.30.5
- Palette
- Linked Open Data
- Linked Open Data URI