Man Sitting - Back View 1964

Curator: So, here we have Wayne Thiebaud’s “Man Sitting – Back View” from 1964. It’s oil on canvas and offers a, shall we say, rather direct portrayal. Editor: Stark, almost confrontational in its simplicity. It’s just a man in a chair, back turned, enveloped by what seems like an immense emptiness. A real statement. Curator: Absolutely, Wayne was always intrigued by those in-between moments. In his realism, the back view is what gets us the story about how to view reality as it is. His gaze always catches those instances that we mostly would miss and pass on. It is just like with those endless displays of cakes and pies from local cafes he painted… Editor: And how do we not read it as a metaphor for isolation? The averted gaze, the stark backdrop... It all screams societal alienation. The Civil Rights Movement was gaining momentum then, debates around integration and identity were exploding. Curator: Well, it is interesting because those color gradients we would easily pass, I’d say they point towards belonging and warmth… In his composition there are nuances of subtle tones… So it does not point into pure isolation. Rather, it’s contemplation. Editor: I still see resistance. Looking away as a form of protest, refusing to engage. The chair itself, so deliberately rendered, it's almost like a cage. It brings the notion of being constrained. Curator: Perhaps… or maybe it’s simply where the sitter happens to be right now in this moment of painting the stillness. The neutrality of his attire, the very plain shoes, doesn’t that also point toward everyday experiences. It’s almost an "un-portrait", an anti-monument. Editor: Yes, it’s not about celebrating the individual. It’s almost…humbling in its starkness. Thiebaud refuses to let the subject have a story beyond that one captured back-turn. Curator: And isn't that the beauty? He takes the most ordinary thing and turns it into something incredibly… complex. So simple and so full of contemplation, or alienation -depending how we see it- at the same time. Editor: So true, and it's amazing that art can open to dialogue and offer room for reflection, and we all find something unique and telling in it.