Wayne Thiebaud’s painting Toweling Off recently sold for an impressive $8.5 million at a Christie’s auction on May 13, 2021, far surpassing the original estimate of $1.2–1.8 million. Although it didn’t break his record for the highest-selling piece—Four Pinball Machines, which fetched $19.1 million in 2020—it underscores the significant surge in prices for late-career artists like Thiebaud.
Best known for his colorful depictions of food, especially pies and cupcakes, Thiebaud’s Toweling Off is part of a series of tennis-themed works he painted in 1968. This shift toward the human figure came at a time when Thiebaud, a lifelong tennis enthusiast, began exploring new subject matter. The painting shows an athlete, her face hidden by a towel, with the intricate folds of the towel and the vertical pleats of her tennis skirt rendered in a plush, tactile style. The work evokes the textures found in classical portraiture, reminiscent of masters such as John Singer Sargent and James McNeill Whistler.
The painting had been privately owned since 1974, when it was acquired from Allan Stone Projects, and had not been displayed publicly since its exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1985. This rarity likely contributed to the dramatic bidding outcome.
Thiebaud’s longtime focus on still life painting is well-known, but he has often stated that figurative work is, “Significantly, the most important study the painter can pursue.” This belief may explain why Toweling Off exceeded its auction estimate by such a wide margin. In addition, figurative art experienced a resurgence in the first major auction after the pandemic, as evidenced by Alice Neel’s Dr. Finger’s Waiting Room (1966), which sold for $3 million, far surpassing its $600,000 to $800,000 estimate. Neel’s increasing recognition, amplified by a major retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, likely contributed to the painting’s strong performance.
Thiebaud’s enduring popularity also mirrors the rise of other long-established artists. For example, German painter Gerhard Richter, at 89, continues to break records in his later years. Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (649-2), a textured abstract painting from 1987, sold for $27.6 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in 2020, making it the most expensive Western painting to be sold at an Asian auction. Richter’s prices have grown at an annual rate of 16.6% since 2000, and his legacy is cemented with meticulous documentation of his works and their prices.
Thiebaud, who will celebrate his 101st birthday in November, shows no signs of his popularity waning. This ongoing demand for his work seems to be rooted in both his exceptional quality as an artist and the commercial appeal of his creations. As Alex Rotter, Chairman of Post-War and Contemporary Art at Christie’s, notes, Thiebaud is widely admired as one of the most beloved artists of the 20th century, with his works evoking a sense of joy in all who view them.
