Twinka Thiebaud
Encyclopedia
Twinka Thiebaud is an American
model
who posed for many of the most important photographers of the 20th century. In the work of Judy Dater
, one particular photo, Imogen and Twinka, has become one of the most recognizable images caught by an American photographer. The iconic photograph of the aged Imogen Cunningham
(the first and perhaps greatest of America's female photographers), coming upon a dryad
in the deep woods, is both charming and shocking.
The photo caused a shock wave in America's art world which found itself forced to rethink the female nude. It was the first adult full frontal nude photograph published in Life
magazine. The issue came out in 1976 as a Bicentennial Special Issue and was devoted to and called: Remarkable American Women 1776-1976.
"Because of her work in the 1970s...and in particular because of that one photograph of Imogen and Twinka...Dater has secured herself a place in photographic history."—Sunday Salon
Another photo of Twinka by Judy Dater is featured in The Woman's Eye, (Alfred A. Knopf, 1973 ISBN 0394486781), a book devoted to women photographers, and also served as the cover image. The book was reviewed by The Harvard Crimson
's Anemone Hartocollis, who said in part: "These aren't demurring women about to extend or accept an invitation, they confront you with their sexuality. Some are beautiful, yet that's not what attracts attention. These women are provocative because their individuality and intellectuality aren't stifled by unctuous idealization. The photographs are precisely detailed, untouched, and of theatrical intensity. One, called "Twinka," is confusing. A frail, attractive girl wearing a diaphanous dress crouches at the base of a gnarled redwood, one arm spanning her breast to clutch a low branch. But her uncanny expression could never be elicited or tolerated by a male photographer: her eyes bore straight out, wide and threatening." Twinka
During her modeling career Twinka was the subject of many photos by many photographers. Images of Twinka
Twinka is also a writer
, recently publishing a personal memoir of Henry Miller
, as well his table talk through Eio Books
.
, Wayne Thiebaud
and his wife Patricia Thiebaud, wed in 1943. Twinka was Wayne Thiebaud's first born child.—Conversation with Wayne Thiebaud.
Born in Los Angeles, California
on December 9, 1945, Twinka was raised in Los Angeles
, New York City
, and Sacramento, California
where her father taught at the University of California, Davis
. Upon her parents divorce in 1958, she moved with her mother and sisters to Marin County, California
where she attended Redwood High School. Her younger brother was the art dealer
and gallerist Paul Thiebaud
.
in his Pacific Palisades home acting as his cook and caretaker. (The Devil at Large: Erica Jong on Henry Miller by Erica Jong
)
At the same time, she worked as an artist's model, becoming a favorite of Robert Heinecken, Judy Dater
, Mary Ellen Mark
, Arnold Newman
, Lucien Clergue
, Eikoh Hosoe
and Ralph Gibson
. Many of the images taken of Twinka at this time are in international private collections and have been shown in galleries and museums around the world, for example, the Uffizi
in Florence, Italy and in New York
's Museum of Modern Art
. She also posed for her father throughout her life. One canvas, painted when she was 18 called Supine Woman, sold at Sotheby's
on November 12, 2009 for $1,818,500 dollars. Supine Woman
At home with Henry Miller, Twinka discovered that Henry was a great talker, regaling his almost nightly guests with tales of his past and his work. Listening, she began to keep a notebook of her version of what he said each evening. Showing Henry her notes, he expressed enthusiasm, introducing her to his own publisher, Noel Young at Capra Press
. The resulting book, Reflections, was published in 1981. (0884961664 isbn13: 9780884961666) Henry Miller's letter to The Stroker, also see Review of "Reflections" published in Nice, 1981
Today, living in Portland, Oregon
, she has published an extensive rewrite of Reflections. Now called What Doncha Know? about Henry Miller, it was published by Eio Books
in February 2011. She has also become a serious oil painter.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
model
Model (art)
Art models are models who pose for photographers, painters, sculptors, and other artists as part of their work of art. Art models who pose in the nude for life drawing are usually called life models...
who posed for many of the most important photographers of the 20th century. In the work of Judy Dater
Judy Dater
Judy Dater is an American photographer and feminist. She is perhaps best known for her 1974 photograph, Imogen and Twinka, featuring an elderly Imogen Cunningham, one of America's first women photographers, encountering a nymph in the woods of Yosemite. The nymph is the model Twinka Thiebaud.Dater...
, one particular photo, Imogen and Twinka, has become one of the most recognizable images caught by an American photographer. The iconic photograph of the aged Imogen Cunningham
Imogen Cunningham
Imogen Cunningham was an American photographer known for her photography of botanicals, nudes and industry.-Life and career:...
(the first and perhaps greatest of America's female photographers), coming upon a dryad
Dryad
Dryads are tree nymphs in Greek mythology. In Greek drys signifies 'oak,' from an Indo-European root *derew- 'tree' or 'wood'. Thus Dryads are specifically the nymphs of oak trees, though the term has come to be used for all tree nymphs in general...
in the deep woods, is both charming and shocking.
The photo caused a shock wave in America's art world which found itself forced to rethink the female nude. It was the first adult full frontal nude photograph published in Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
magazine. The issue came out in 1976 as a Bicentennial Special Issue and was devoted to and called: Remarkable American Women 1776-1976.
"Because of her work in the 1970s...and in particular because of that one photograph of Imogen and Twinka...Dater has secured herself a place in photographic history."—Sunday Salon
Another photo of Twinka by Judy Dater is featured in The Woman's Eye, (Alfred A. Knopf, 1973 ISBN 0394486781), a book devoted to women photographers, and also served as the cover image. The book was reviewed by The Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson, the daily student newspaper of Harvard University, was founded in 1873. It is the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates...
's Anemone Hartocollis, who said in part: "These aren't demurring women about to extend or accept an invitation, they confront you with their sexuality. Some are beautiful, yet that's not what attracts attention. These women are provocative because their individuality and intellectuality aren't stifled by unctuous idealization. The photographs are precisely detailed, untouched, and of theatrical intensity. One, called "Twinka," is confusing. A frail, attractive girl wearing a diaphanous dress crouches at the base of a gnarled redwood, one arm spanning her breast to clutch a low branch. But her uncanny expression could never be elicited or tolerated by a male photographer: her eyes bore straight out, wide and threatening." Twinka
During her modeling career Twinka was the subject of many photos by many photographers. Images of Twinka
Twinka is also a writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, recently publishing a personal memoir of Henry Miller
Henry Miller
Henry Valentine Miller was an American novelist and painter. He was known for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a new sort of 'novel' that is a mixture of novel, autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free association, and mysticism, one that is...
, as well his table talk through Eio Books
Eio Books
Eio Books is an American based small press publishing house founded in 2004 in the city of Brattleboro, Vermont. In 2009, it opened a second office in Belvedere, California...
.
Personal life
Twinka is the daughter of the American painterPainting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, Wayne Thiebaud
Wayne Thiebaud
Wayne Thiebaud is an American painter whose most famous works are of cakes, pastries, boots, toilets, toys and lipsticks. He is associated with the Pop art movement because of his interest in objects of mass culture, although his works, executed during the fifties and sixties, slightly predate...
and his wife Patricia Thiebaud, wed in 1943. Twinka was Wayne Thiebaud's first born child.—Conversation with Wayne Thiebaud.
Born in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
on December 9, 1945, Twinka was raised in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
where her father taught at the University of California, Davis
University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...
. Upon her parents divorce in 1958, she moved with her mother and sisters to Marin County, California
Marin County, California
Marin County is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As of 2010, the population was 252,409. The county seat is San Rafael and the largest employer is the county government. Marin County is well...
where she attended Redwood High School. Her younger brother was the art dealer
Art dealer
An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art. Art dealers' professional associations serve to set high standards for accreditation or membership and to support art exhibitions and shows.-Role:...
and gallerist Paul Thiebaud
Paul Thiebaud
Paul Thiebaud was an American art dealer who owned two influential galleries, one in New York City and the other in San Francisco...
.
Career
Seeking to become an actress, Twinka returned to Los Angeles from Marin. For a number of years she lived with the aging novelist Henry MillerHenry Miller
Henry Valentine Miller was an American novelist and painter. He was known for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a new sort of 'novel' that is a mixture of novel, autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free association, and mysticism, one that is...
in his Pacific Palisades home acting as his cook and caretaker. (The Devil at Large: Erica Jong on Henry Miller by Erica Jong
Erica Jong
Erica Jong is an American author and teacher best known for her fiction and poetry.-Career:A 1963 graduate of Barnard College, and with an M.A...
)
At the same time, she worked as an artist's model, becoming a favorite of Robert Heinecken, Judy Dater
Judy Dater
Judy Dater is an American photographer and feminist. She is perhaps best known for her 1974 photograph, Imogen and Twinka, featuring an elderly Imogen Cunningham, one of America's first women photographers, encountering a nymph in the woods of Yosemite. The nymph is the model Twinka Thiebaud.Dater...
, Mary Ellen Mark
Mary Ellen Mark
Mary Ellen Mark is an American photographer known for her photojournalism, portraiture, and advertising photography. She has had 16 collections of her work published and has been exhibited at galleries and museums worldwide. She has received numerous accolades, including three Robert F...
, Arnold Newman
Arnold Newman
Arnold Abner Newman was an American photographer, noted for his "environmental portraits" of artists and politicians...
, Lucien Clergue
Lucien Clergue
-Biography:Lucien Clergue was born in Arles. From the age of 7, he learned to play the violin. Several years later, his teacher revealed to him that he had nothing more to teach him. From a family of shopkeepers, he could not pursue further studies in a conservatory. In 1949, he learned the...
, Eikoh Hosoe
Eikoh Hosoe
is a Japanese photographer and filmmaker who emerged in the experimental arts movement of post-World War II Japan. He is known for his psychologically charged images, often exploring subjects such as death, erotic obsession, and irrationality...
and Ralph Gibson
Ralph Gibson
Ralph Gibson is an American art photographer best known for his photographic books. His images often incorporate fragments with erotic and mysterious undertones, building narrative meaning through contextualization and surreal juxtaposition.Ralph Gibson studied photography while in the US Navy and...
. Many of the images taken of Twinka at this time are in international private collections and have been shown in galleries and museums around the world, for example, the Uffizi
Uffizi
The Uffizi Gallery , is a museum in Florence, Italy. It is one of the oldest and most famous art museums of the Western world.-History:...
in Florence, Italy and in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
. She also posed for her father throughout her life. One canvas, painted when she was 18 called Supine Woman, sold at Sotheby's
Sotheby's
Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
on November 12, 2009 for $1,818,500 dollars. Supine Woman
At home with Henry Miller, Twinka discovered that Henry was a great talker, regaling his almost nightly guests with tales of his past and his work. Listening, she began to keep a notebook of her version of what he said each evening. Showing Henry her notes, he expressed enthusiasm, introducing her to his own publisher, Noel Young at Capra Press
Capra Press
Capra Press was a Santa Barbara, California-based independent publishing house which has produced works by authors such as Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, Raymond Carver, Ray Bradbury, Gretel Ehrlich, Ursula K...
. The resulting book, Reflections, was published in 1981. (0884961664 isbn13: 9780884961666) Henry Miller's letter to The Stroker, also see Review of "Reflections" published in Nice, 1981
Today, living in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, she has published an extensive rewrite of Reflections. Now called What Doncha Know? about Henry Miller, it was published by Eio Books
Eio Books
Eio Books is an American based small press publishing house founded in 2004 in the city of Brattleboro, Vermont. In 2009, it opened a second office in Belvedere, California...
in February 2011. She has also become a serious oil painter.
External links
- "What Doncha Know? about Henry Miller"
- Supine Woman by Wayne Thiebaud
- The Joseph Bellows Gallery
- The Andrew Smith Gallery
- Stephen Kasher Gallery
- Robert Heinecken
- Twinka
- Reflections
- http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.gracewestonphotography.com/UserImages/5/10546/1/92140_mediumlarger.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.gracewestonphotography.com/Portfolio_main.cfm%3FnK%3D3078%26i%3D92140&h=350&w=280&sz=28&tbnid=greoPrJhGTuA0M:&tbnh=120&tbnw=96&prev=/images%3Fq%3DTwinka%2BThiebaud&hl=en&usg=__x6_KIt651cPi-3ySBseB6-9pEUw=&ei=6TL8S43cJITsNPT1iLkB&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=7&ct=image&ved=0CCUQ9QEwBgPainting by Twinka Thiebaud]
