Jeremy Millar
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jeremymillar.bsky.social
Jeremy Millar
@jeremymillar.bsky.social
8K followers 2.1K following 27K posts
Artist; have written, and curated, also. Head of Programme, Writing MA, at the RCA, London.

jeremymillar.org

Profile: https://jeremymillar.org/Notes-on-Gesture-for-H-C-2015

Header: https://jeremymillar.org/Neutral-Diluted-2007
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jeremymillar.bsky.social
Inevitably, the 'we're all trying to find the guy who did this'–meme
November 11, 2025 at 4:38 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
A screenshot of two consecutive posts: the first from 'Claude onet' of his painting 'The Headland of the Heve at Low Tide' (1865), and the second of a post by M John Harrison saying 'it's low tide all over, today'
November 9, 2025 at 10:40 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
November 9, 2025 at 10:05 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
November 9, 2025 at 7:54 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
I love him even more
A tweet from Zohran Mamdani, dated 2 November 2013: #arsenal in crisis — yet to beat a team above them in the league #bbcfootball
November 7, 2025 at 2:38 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
Copper etching plate for Dispensers
November 6, 2025 at 11:57 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
A close-up of the Dispensers etching, showing the dark elegant cross-hatching
November 6, 2025 at 11:57 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
And some beautiful etchings, too

Dispensers
Eighth plate
1964 (published 1965)
A frames etching on the wall. It shows dispensers for sugar, napkins, and salt and pepper on what one presumes is a diner table. It is sparse and beautiful.
November 6, 2025 at 11:55 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
How one paints with Swiss meringue buttercream I'll never know
A close-up of the painting Pie Counter showing what become abstract shapes of thick paint which look like thick meringues and custard.
November 6, 2025 at 11:52 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
Pie Counter, 1963
PIE COUNTER 1963 Oil on canvas Wayne Thiebaud favoured painting foods that had been heavily processed and shaped. Larger in scale than his earlier pie paintings, this work conveys an intensified sense of the assembly line and mass production. However, he saw paintings such as Pie Counter as an invitation to look more intently and to notice the differences in the seemingly uniform. They were, for him, 'a play on the closeness of similarities and dissimilarities. At first glance, the pies look mechanical and have a sameness. At least, most people will think they do until they study them closely.' Whitney Museum of American Art, New York Purchase, with funds from the Larry Aldrich Foundation Fund 64.11
November 6, 2025 at 11:50 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
As if Morandi had been born in the Mid West

Delicatessen Counter, 1962
DELICATESSEN COUNTER 1962 Oil on canvas Depicting the cheeses and baloney sausages on offer at a deli counter, Wayne Thiebaud painted so thickly that every brushstroke is accentuated. He explained that he wanted to emphasise different textures to explore 'what happens when the relationship between paint and subject matter comes as close together as I can possibly get them. At the same time, Thiebaud liked how the obvious traces of the brush exposed what he called the 'trick' of painting itself. He also paid great attention to perfecting the calligraphy of the numbers on the price cards, a nod to his admiration for the skill of commercial artists, with whom he trained. The Menil Collection, Houston
November 6, 2025 at 11:49 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
I love these little moments when the flatness gives way
A close-up of Delicatessen Counter showing stacks of cheese, probably, the end of one block seemingly showing blue mould.
November 6, 2025 at 11:43 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
They're so wonderfully desolate

Delicatessen Counter, 1963
DELICATESSEN COUNTER 1963 Oil on canvas This major painting was included as part of an influential pair of exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1963. They presented leading East and West Coast artists who focused on objects of modern American life, including Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and Ed Ruscha. Wayne Thiebaud was described as 'the laureate of lunch counters and diners' and singled out as recasting the traditions of still-life painting. Delicatessen Counter recalls an earlier painting of modern consumer society that Thiebaud much admired, Édouard Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882; on display in the adjacent permanent collection gallery), albeit with the human figure removed. Both paintings position the viewer as customers and evoke a strange mix of desire, abundance, isolation and absence. Private collection, USA
November 6, 2025 at 11:41 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
Frosting!
A close-up of the painting Cakes in which the paint looks like thick chocolate frosting.
November 6, 2025 at 11:38 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
Look at the icing!
A close-up of a pink iced cake from the painting Cakes, in which it looks as if the paint has been piped on.
November 6, 2025 at 11:37 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
I mean, have a look at this, though. Absolutely outrageous. I haven't want to lick a painting this badly since looking at Manet still-lives at d'Orsay.

Cakes, 1963
CAKES 1963 Oil on canvas In this celebrated painting, Wayne Thiebaud gives an epic account of one of his favourite motifs, a display of bright and brash cakes familiar from bakeries and diners across America. Working on an unusually large scale for a still-life painting, he accords both the genre itself and his commonplace subject matter monumental status. Thiebaud uses his paint thickly and lushly to accentuate what he considered the distinctly American character of the patterned, vividly coloured and excessively frosted offerings. Cakes was a standout work in exhibitions in New York and Los Angeles in 1963 and helped confirm Thiebaud's emerging reputation as a distinctive painter of modern American life. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Gift in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art from the Collectors Committee, the 50th Anniversary Gift Committee, and The Circle, with additional support from the Abrams Family in memory of Harry N. Abrams
November 6, 2025 at 11:35 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
Three Machines, 1963
THREE MACHINES 1963 Oil on canvas An American invention of the early 20th century, the bubble-topped gumball machine was a mainstay of modern childhood. Wayne Thiebaud's machines are lined up in empty surroundings, an arrangement that recalls the still lifes of the modern Italian artist Giorgio Morandi, whom he admired. Removed from any context, these everyday objects can be scrutinised afresh. The painter Barnett Newman described Thiebaud's gumball machines as 'surreal' encapsulations of consumerism, which stimulated visual desire with their beautiful colours and held the 'sweet promise of a reward in exchange for 'the grimiest kind of copper money'. However, Thiebaud omits the release lever on his machines, so the enticing sweets are forever out of reach. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
November 6, 2025 at 11:31 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
He could have a go at geometric abstraction, too

Four Pinball Machines, 1962
FOUR PINBALL MACHINES 1962 Oil on canvas Although associated with gambling and banned in some cities, pinball machines became an American phenomenon and were hugely popular across the country in the 1950s and 1960s. One of Wayne Thiebaud's most ambitious and complex works, this painting seems, at first glance, to be a straightforward depiction of an arcade of brightly coloured pinball machines waiting to be played. However, Thiebaud redesigned their square backglasses to recall recent developments in abstract painting, such as the squares of Frank Stella, the targets of Kenneth Noland and the grids of Ellsworth Kelly. In doing so, Thiebaud folded together contemporary art and popular culture, presenting both as modern entertainment. Private collection Courtesy Acquavella Galleries
November 6, 2025 at 11:29 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
Detail from Penny Machines, 1961
A detail from the bottom right-hand corner of the painting showing thick paint in dusky pink, a dark turquoise, and a slim triangle of red. A line of bright orange is scratched through the pink. PENNY MACHINES 1961 Oil on canvas The character of Wayne Thiebaud's art changed dramatically in 1961, as the loose brushwork of his earlier paintings gave way to more clearly rendered and tightly composed forms. Penny Machines marks the beginning of this transition. Its line-up of three boldly painted sweet dispensers has what Thiebaud called a new 'head-on directness' that confidently presents these common commercial objects as small monuments. He uses sweeping strokes of thickly brushed paint to construct the surfaces in bold blue and pink - colours that he would soon cease to use for his backgrounds, preferring more neutral creams and whites. Collection of John Berggruen
November 6, 2025 at 11:28 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
Five Hot Dogs, 1961
FIVE HOT DOGS 1961 Oil on canvas Few objects epitomise modern American food more fully than the hot dog. In this defining early painting, Wayne Thiebaud attempted to conjure the ideal image of these ubiquitous snacks, the sausages perfectly held in their rolls and completed with a yellow streak of mustard. His ability to convey the essence of his subject, shorn of all extraneous detail, was rooted in his earlier career working in advertising and illustration, professions he held in high esteem. Five Hot Dogs was shown in Thiebaud's breakthrough exhibition at the Allan Stone Gallery in New York in 1962 and in other influential shows over the following years. The Bransten Family Collection
November 6, 2025 at 11:25 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
I mean, look at that cream, look at that custard

Detail from Pie Rows, 1962
A close-up of the painting showing the luscious thick paint which dissolves into abstract forms while also looking exactly like thick layers of cream and custard.
November 6, 2025 at 11:23 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
Caged Pie, 1962
Pie Rows, 1961
CAGED PIE 1962 Oil on canvas Some of Wayne Thiebaud's most poignant works isolate just a single object. Here, a last slice of cherry pie remains in a glass case on a countertop. Thiebaud explained how he recalled fragments of youthful memories as he painted: 'From when I worked in restaurants, I can remember seeing rows of pies, or a tin of pie with one piece out of it. Those little vedute [views], in fragmented circumstances, were always poetic to me.' San Diego Museum of Art PIE ROWS 1961 Oil on canvas Painting pies set Wayne Thiebaud on a new artistic path. In the early 1960s, he produced several closely related versions of this breakthrough composition, drawing on his memories of working in restaurants. The simplicity of the shapes - rows of circles and triangles - reminded him of Paul Cézanne's claim that authentic painting should be built from basic forms. Thiebaud's paintings of pies were standout works in his highly successful debut exhibition at the Allan Stone Gallery in New York in 1962. It presented a rich display of some 46 paintings, hung in stacked groups, most of which were bought by prominent collectors and major museums. Collection of the Wayne Thiebaud Foundation
November 6, 2025 at 11:20 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
Went to the Wayne Thiebaud exhibition today and, inevitably, it was absolutely delicious.

Cup of Coffee, 1961
A small painting on a white gallery wall. It shows a white mug of coffee on a creamy background. CUP OF COFFEE 1961 Oil on canvas The diner mug was an iconic object of modern America when Wayne Thiebaud painted this work. Designed for hardwearing military use in the Second World War, it became a familiar feature of diners, which multiplied across the country in the post-war years. Thiebaud invites us not to overlook this commonplace cup of coffee and to consider its character and associations through the richness of its colours and forms. A defining feature of his new work from this period was its embrace of the effects of bright Californian sunlight and of intensely lit modern commercial interiors, which accentuated deep shadows and colour nuances. The Fine Arts Collection, Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, University of California, Davis Gift of Fay Nelson
November 6, 2025 at 11:17 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
Obviously hospitals can be stressful places so it is good that the walls contain works of art which can calm worried visi… WHAT THE FUCK
A drawing of Dot Cotton by Egon Schiele on the wall of Croydon University Hospital
November 5, 2025 at 6:17 PM
jeremymillar.bsky.social
Raise a glass
November 4, 2025 at 12:00 AM