NEW YORK, NY.- This November, Girl in White Boots, Wayne Thiebaud's iconic 1965 portrait of Blair Sabol, will be sold at Christie's, coming from the collection of Blair Sabol. Commissioned by Blair's parents following her senior year of high school, the work was painted by Thiebaud in the summer of 1965 in his Sacramento studio, where Blair sat perfectly still for him over the course of four consecutive days from 10am to 5pm, with an hour break for lunch. Blair had just come from a trip to New York with her mother, Audrey Sabol, whom had given her the ultimate graduation present: an appointment with Vidal Sassoon, the world's most sought-after hair stylist, in his newly opened salon. Depicting Blair in her new mod haircut, bright yellow Courreges-style shift dress and white go-go boots, the portrait captures a moment in American culture, intersecting 60s fashion and Pop Art.

Rachael White Young, Co-Head of Christie's 20th Century Evening Sale, remarks: “Girl in White Boots is an early figure painting by Thiebaud, a demonstration of the wide scope of the artist's technical genius. The portrait of the then-18-year-old Blair Sabol, a rare commission of the artist, shows her seated at a juncture between her youth and adulthood. We're delighted to bring this to market, after remaining in her family collection for over 60 years.”

Made in Thiebaud's grandest scale that harkens back to the great traditions of aristocratic portraiture, the work serves as a window into Thiebaud's fascination with art history. The painting's impetus follows another timeless art historical tradition: it was one of the very few commissioned portraits which Thiebaud decided to accept, a testament to the importance of Blair's parents, Audrey and Ed Sabol, great patrons of their day. Audrey had contacted Thiebaud with the concept of the portrait after she had come to learn about his groundbreaking Pop paintings through her role as a founding member and tireless champion of the Arts Council in Philadelphia. Through her many curatorial visits to California, she played a strong role in bringing emerging West Coast artists including Thiebaud and Ed Ruscha to an eager East Coast audience.

In the years following the portrait's completion, Blair went on to live an exciting life filled with art, style, and cultural vibrance, which remains ongoing. She moved to New York and built a successful career for herself as a fashion writer, with an influential column in the Village Voice in the 1970s. By way of her mother's introduction, she became closely linked with many of the California greats, including Ed Ruscha and Billy Al Bengston. Now nearing 80-years-old, Blair remembers the experience of sitting for her Thiebaud portrait as if it were yesterday—in retrospect, seeing the painting as a foretelling of what was to be her bright future ahead. It also began what was to be a wonderful friendship with Thiebaud, whom she deeply admired and remained in touch with until he passed away five years ago at the age of 101.

The painting has been widely published, notably featured as the cover for the April 1966 issue of ARTnews, which helped propel the artist to a national audience. It has been included in many of the artist's most important exhibitions, including his retrospective which originated at the Pasadena Art Museum in 1968 as well as Wayne Thiebaud: A Paintings Retrospective in 2001, which toured the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., and the Whitney Museum of American Art.