{{Short description|Canadian painter (born 1948)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}} {{Infobox person |name = David Thauberger |image = |alt = |caption = |birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1948}} |birth_place = Holdfast, Saskatchewan |birth_name = |death_date = |death_place = |other_names = |known_for = |spouse = Veronica Pawliw |occupation = |nationality = |awards = Order of Canada<br>Saskatchewan Order of Merit }} '''David Thauberger''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|CM|SOM|RCA|size=100%}} (born 1948) is a Canadian painter known for work that is influenced by popular culture, postcard imagery, folk art, and utopian urban planning concepts.
==Career== Born in Holdfast, Saskatchewan, Thauberger received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1971 from the University of Saskatchewan (Regina campus) where he studied with David Gilhooly in ceramics. Gilhooly served as an early mentor to him as well as other artists of the region. In 1972, Thauberger received a master's degree in Art from California State University, Sacramento. He also received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Montana in 1973.<ref name="uregina " >{{cite web|url=https://www.uregina.ca/library/services/archives/collections/art_architecture/thauberger.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130407144718/http://www.uregina.ca/library/services/archives/collections/art_architecture/thauberger.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-04-07 |title=David Thaugerger |work=University of Regina }}</ref> He actually had no formal training as a painter, but turned an interest in folk art (he curated exhibitions and contributing to documentaries and art books about folk art)<ref name="uregina " /> into an influence when he began painting in the late seventies, creating iconic images of the prairies.<ref name="reid " >{{cite book |last1=Reid |first1=Dennis |title=A Concise History of Canadian Painting |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Don Mills, Ontario |page=455-456 |edition=Third |url=https://librarysearch.library.utoronto.ca/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Reid,%20Dennis%20(2012).%20A%20concise%20History%20of%20Canadian%20Painting%20(Third%20ed.).&tab=Everything&search_scope=UTL_AND_CI&vid=01UTORONTO_INST:UTORONTO&offset=0 |access-date=2021-06-22}}</ref> The approach in his deadpan images of local architecture and landscape appropriated from sources like postcards, television or magazines is satirical.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Murray |first1=Joan| title=Canadian Art in the Twentieth Century|page=203|date=1999|publisher=Dundurn|isbn=|location=Toronto|oclc=260193722}}</ref>
In 1988, the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina surveyed his work of the last decade. In 2015, the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon and MacKenzie Art Gallery collaborated in organizing a comprehensive overview of his work curated by Sandra Fraser for the Mendel, and Timothy Long for the MacKenzie, titled "David Thauberger: Road Trips and Other Diversions".<ref>{{cite web |title=David Thauberger: Road Trips and Other Diversions|url=https://mackenzie.art/experience/exhibition/david-thauberger-road-trips-and-other-diversions |website=mackenzie.art |publisher=MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina |access-date=2021-06-22}}</ref> The show had an extensive tour across Canada. In 2023, Thauberger exhibited ''Endless Summer'' at Slate Fine Art Gallery in Regina.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Schneider |first1=Zoë |title=Article |url=https://www.gallerieswest.ca/magazine/stories/david-thauberger-disappearing-architecture |website=www.gallerieswest.ca |date=20 November 2023 |publisher=Galleries West Magazine, Nov 20, 2023 |access-date=27 November 2023}}</ref>
Among his major commissions are postage stamp designs for Canada Post (1982, 1992), a mural for a Cineplex Odeon theatre (Richmond, Virginia, 1987), and a mural for Via Rail Canada (for inside a train which criss-crossed the country in 1988).<ref name="sknac " >{{cite web |title=Saskatchewan Artist |url=http://www.sknac.ca/index.php?page=ArtistDetail&id=13 |website=www.sknac.ca |publisher=Saskatchewan NAC |access-date=2021-06-23}}</ref>
Thauberger's work is in major public collections including the National Gallery of Canada,<ref>{{cite web |title=David Thauberger |url=https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/d-thauberger |website=www.gallery.ca |publisher=National Gallery of Canada |access-date=2021-06-22}}</ref> Art Gallery of Ontario,<ref>{{cite web |title=Collection |url=https://ago.ca/collection/browse?keys=david%20thauberger |website=ago.ca |publisher=Art Gallery of Ontario |access-date=2021-06-22}}</ref> Art Gallery of Hamilton, Winnipeg Art Gallery, and others.<ref name="sknac " />
His papers are in the Library of the University of Regina.<ref name="uregina " />
==Honours== In 2008, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada in recognition for being "a pillar of prairie folk art".<ref>{{Canadian honour|Type=orc |ID=11549 }}</ref> In 2012, he was made a member of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in recognition for being "an advocate of prairie folk art, a knowledgeable collector and volunteer." He is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012, the Lieutenant Governor's Saskatchewan Artist Award in 2009 and is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ops.gov.sk.ca/Default.aspx?DN=4be004b1-ecae-4a60-8008-4dfbc047f9c4|title=2012 Recipients of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit|access-date=15 February 2013|archive-date=10 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310205740/http://www.ops.gov.sk.ca/Default.aspx?DN=4be004b1-ecae-4a60-8008-4dfbc047f9c4|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Thauberger also has contributed to Canadian art through such governing boards as notably the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, the Canada Council for the Arts, and Canada Council Art Bank.<ref>{{cite web |title=Event Participants |url=https://www.agw.ca/event/782 |website=www.agw.ca |publisher=Windsor Essex Art Gallery |access-date=24 April 2023}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{official website}} * https://esask.uregina.ca/entry/thauberger_david_1948-.jsp Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan entry
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thauberger, David}} Category:1948 births Category:Living people Category:Canadian sculptors Category:Canadian male sculptors Category:California State University, Sacramento, alumni Category:Members of the Order of Canada Category:Members of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit Category:University of Montana alumni Category:University of Saskatchewan alumni Category:Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts