Who is Wayne Thiebaud, and why is his work, especially the attached image, important?

Wayne Thiebaud
is an American artist who is generally classified in the "pop art" movement, although
he himself did not consider himself to be part of that group, and his work slightly predates the
major pop artists such as Andy Warhol. He is an important artists for many reasons, let's go
through a few of them. 

1. Wayne Thiebaud's work could only have come from
America. The choices he made in his subjects, including brightly-lit, everyday items like
pastries, ice cream (as in the above painting) and other items of popular consumption were not
usually considered viable subjects in Europe or...