San Francisco West Side Ridge

Wayne Thiebaud, San Francisco West Side Ridge, 2001, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Sam Rose and Julie Walters, 2004.30.5
Copied Wayne Thiebaud, San Francisco West Side Ridge, 2001, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 in. (91.4 x 91.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Sam Rose and Julie Walters, 2004.30.5

Artwork Details

Title
San Francisco West Side Ridge
Artist
Date
2001
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
36 x 36 in. (91.4 x 91.4 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Sam Rose and Julie Walters
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Architecture Exterior — commercial
  • Cityscape — California — San Francisco
  • Cityscape — bird’s eye view
  • Cityscape — street
Object Number
2004.30.5
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2004.30.5

Artwork Description

Wayne Thiebaud was fascinated by the dramatic vistas and abrupt disjunctions of the San Francisco landscape. Denying the laws of normal perspective, San Francisco West Side Ridge is a commotion of rectangles, horizontals, and diagonals that thrust downward and obliquely to destabilize streets and urban buildings. Parked vehicles seem pinned to vertical curbs; turrets, palm trees, and a tiny figure on a balcony confirm life at the top of the precipice; and shadows cast by street lamps point like arrows to the dramatic drop-off at the right.