Biography

Internationally acclaimed artist Wayne Thiebaud is the only individual to have received three successive degrees from California State University, Sacramento—a bachelor’s degree in art in 1951, a master’s degree in art in 1953, and an honorary Ph.D. in fine arts in 1998.

After receiving his B.A. from Sacramento State, Thiebaud taught both art and art history at Sacramento City College until 1960. He then joined the art faculty at the University of California, Davis, where he remained until his retirement in the early 1990s. His signature style—brightly colored still-life paintings of food and other objects, shown against neutral backgrounds—was established around 1960. The recipient of numerous awards and other honors, Thiebaud received the Governor’s Award for Lifetime Achievements in the Arts in 1991, and the National Medal of Arts Presidential Award in 1994.