Which American pop artist is known for painting cakes and pastries?

Wayne Thiebaud is the American pop artist known for painting cakes and pastries.

Thiebaud became famous for brightly colored paintings of ordinary American foods, including cakes, pies, pastries, ice-cream cones, hot dogs, and candy. His bakery-counter subjects often look almost theatrical because he used thick paint, strong outlines, saturated color, and sharply defined shadows reminiscent of commercial advertising.

Thiebaud’s food paintings emerged mainly in the 1950s and 1960s, just before and alongside the rise of American Pop Art. He was often grouped with Pop artists because he depicted mass-produced consumer goods, but he resisted the label and described himself as a traditional painter. His work also included portraits, figures, city streets, and California landscapes.

A common mix-up is Andy Warhol, whose art also focused on familiar commercial imagery. Warhol is associated with soup cans and celebrity portraits; Thiebaud is the artist especially associated with cakes, pies, and pastries.