Twinka Thiebaud and the Art of the Pose features 100 works that speak to the role of Twinka Thiebaud as an artist’s model, and to the working relationships and friendships she developed with artists during her career. Comprised of paintings, drawings, and photographs that date from the 1940s through 2022, this exhibition will investigate Thiebaud’s earliest modeling work, completed as a child for her father, artist Wayne Thiebaud. The father/daughter dynamic is also visible in later works, including Wayne Thiebaud paintings from the 1960s. As she moved into a career as an artist’s model, Twinka Thiebaud worked with photographers Judy Dater, Jack Welpott, Eikoh Hosoe, Arnold Newman, Mary Ellen Mark, Robert Heinecken, Kim Campbell, and John Reiff Williams, among many others, revealing her ability to transform her body and gaze based upon the surrounding environment and the artist’s vision for the work.
The exhibition will be the first to highlight Twinka Thiebaud’s long career and influence as an artist’s model, while also exploring the artistic processes of numerous West Coast-based artists working today.