1For four decades, the legendary painter Wayne Thiebaud taught, passionately, at the University of California Davis, until retiring aged 70. As a teacher, Thiebaud had introduced thousands of undergraduates to the delights of great art and art making. Thiebaud still refers to exercises he would assign his students when explaining the dynamics of his own works. Here, collected for the first time, are student records of Thiebaud's famous lectures, which include Beginning Drawing, Descriptive Drawing, Life Drawing, Beginning Painting, Printmaking, and Theory and Criticism. These lecture notes are, apart from everything else, delightful and vibrant. They are concrete, efficient, not the wanderings of an imported academic star who takes class off early to get to the tennis courts.

Introductory essay by Dr. Gene Cooper, Professor Emeritus, California State University Long Beach.