Fertile Ground: U.C. Davis Faculty & Alumni, at Paul Thiebaud Gallery through Feb. 28
645 Chestnut Street, San Francisco, 94133
Paul Thiebaud Gallery has opened Fertile Ground: UC Davis Faculty & Alumni. On view are paintings, and ceramic sculpture by Robert Arneson, William Theophilius Brown, Roy De Forest, April Glory Funcke, Robert Hudson, Grace Munakata, Manuel Neri, Cornelia Schulz, Sandra Shannonhouse, Wayne Thiebaud, Michael Tompkins, William T. Wiley, and Paul Wonner. Diverse in aesthetic expression and intent, this capsule exhibition highlights the artistic achievements of not only U.C. Davis’s legendary art department faculty but also selected alumni.
Better known for its veterinary, agriculture, and medical departments in 1960, UC Davis's art department underwent a major transformation beginning that year with Department Chair Richard L. Nelson’s hiring of a new slate of faculty. The first to arrive
was Wayne Thiebaud (1920-2021) in 1960. Though his breakout exhibition of cakes and pies would not take place at Allan Stone Gallery until 1962, Thiebaud’s close friendships with Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline lent him credibility beyond his painting skills.
The next to arrive was Robert Arneson (1930-1992), who established the legendary ceramics program in TB9, and was a leading member of the movement bringing clay into the world of fine art sculpture at the time of his hiring. William T. Wiley (1937-2021)
joined the faculty at the same time as Arneson, infusing the department with his conceptual and poetic approach to making art.
The final members of the founding faculty — Manuel Neri (1930-2021) and Roy De Forest (1930-2007) — arrived in 1965.
Both Neri and De Forest had established reputations at the time of their appointments — Neri for being the sole sculptor in the Bay Area Figurative Movement and De Forest for this unique painterly vision, which at that time encompassed quasi-surreal, semi-abstract paintings recalling aerial landscapes. The mixture of styles and movements represented among these artists immediately put UC Davis on the map as a hot bed of artistic activity, and the impact it had on generations of students cannot be underestimated.
While focused on a select number of key faculty and alumni, the range of artistic territory encompassed by the group of artists included in this exhibition conveys the impact of UC Davis Art Department on the history and trajectory of American Art in the 20th and 21st centuries.
By Paul Thiebaud Gallery
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Karen Nikos-Rose, Arts Blog Editor, kmnikos@ucdavis.edu