BobTHOMPSON(1937-1966)Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Bob Thompson dropped out ofmedical school to study art at the University of Louisville. He hadlost his father in a car crash when he was thirteen, and his mother,a school teacher, had stressed the importance of education duringhis formative years.After college, Thompson moved to New York City and became aninvolved member of the local artist community as well as the jazzclub scene. He quickly gained a reputation as a talented bohemianartist, known for his bold and colorful canvases and his manner ofappropriating themes from the Old Masters for his own paintings.His paintings were colorful, figurative, raw, and bright. From 1961to 1963, Thompson traveled throughout Europe with his wife,expanding his presence in the Abstract Expressionist movement.Back in New York in 1963, a friend helped Thompson land a soloexhibition in the gallery of Martha Jackson. His association withthe highly influential Jackson gained him fast recognition in theart world, and his paintings were soon appearing in exhibitionsthroughout the nation. Critics proclaimed him a genius, a masterof Renaissance themes with a contemporary focus.BOB THOMPSONAFRICAN AMERICAN ARTAfrican American art is now generally very topical.There is a thread that we are seeing in many of thecurrent exhibitions that feature African Americanartists generally, and African American womenartists in particular. Some African American artistswere able to work within the dominant tradition andcontributed substantially to it. Yet whole generationsof African American artists were excluded from thistradition. It is here and now that you can see this,illustrated by various works. This is a gap within arthistory that we are now only beginning to fill. BobThompson is another example that defies definition.This is an artist David loves. He looks like folk art, butalmost every scene refers to great literature or greatpaintings or both. I’d love to talk with Bob Thompson.We have only one other work by him — a uniquelinoleum cut with a note from his wife that Bob did it.–Susan S. and David R. GoodeIn the fall of 1965, Thompson traveled to Rome to further studyRenaissance art. A short four months later, Thompson died of aheroin overdose following gall bladder surgery. He was twenty-eight.I paint many paintings that tell me slowlythat I have something inside of me that is justbursting, twisting, sticking, spilling over to getout. Out into souls and mouths and eyes thathave never seen before.—Bob ThompsonInteresting Thompson Fact:Despite having only an eight-year career after college, Bob Thompson hadcompleted more than a thousand paintings and drawings upon his death.37 |
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