‘Encased Cakes’ nets record $8.46 million auction price for Sacramento art legend Thiebaud
At $8.46 million, Sacramento painter Wayne Thiebaud’s “Encased Cakes” was sold Thursday at auction in New York at a record price for the contemporary art legend, auction house Sotheby’s announced Friday.
The sale of the large-scale oil-on-canvas at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction eclipsed Thiebaud’s previous record of $6.3 million on a night that netted a staggering $270.6 million for works from Mark Rothko, Francis Bacon, Kerry James Marshall and Willem DeKooning, an early hero of Thiebaud’s, among others.
The painting of vivid cakes ensconced inside a bakery’s glass display case is a “testament to Thiebaud’s exceptional mastery of color,” Sotheby’s noted in its report on the Thursday auction.
The auction, a day before Thiebaud celebrated his 99th birthday Friday, came as plans continue for a major retrospective of his work in October 2020 at Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento to mark the painter’s 100th birthday.
An exhibition set for January 2021 at UC Davis’ Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art is also in the works connecting Thiebaud’s groundbreaking work to a new generation of artists.
Another of Thiebaud’s noted pieces, “Blueberry Custard,” (1961), from the collection of late Tower Records founder and Sacramento entrepreneur Russ Solomon will be offered at auction Nov. 20 by Heritage Auctions in Beverly Hills.
The piece is estimated at $2 million to $2.5 million, say Heritage representatives.
This story was originally published November 15, 2019 at 5:10 PM with the headline "‘Encased Cakes’ nets record $8.46 million auction price for Sacramento art legend Thiebaud."
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