Collections: Contemporary Art: The Judgement

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The Judgement

The career of Bob Thompson, the noted African American artist, was cut short by his early death at the age of twenty-eight. Thompson was born near Louisville, Kentucky, and studied at the University of Louisville and at Boston University. In the early and mid-1960s, he traveled throughout Europe and experienced many Renaissance paintings and other artworks firsthand. He fused the vigor and vibrancy of Expressionism with themes from Old Master compositions and the vivid palette of Fauve painting to create the original visual vocabulary exemplified by The Judgment. Recalling such time-honored Old Master subjects as the Last Judgment and the Judgment of Paris, here a nude male trio sits before faceless winged female angels while two figures (at left) await judgment. The planar, flattened figures and compositional contours in a gesturally applied background are all equally emphasized.


• Artist: Bob Thompson, American, 1937-1966
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Dates: 1963
• Dimensions: 60 x 84 in. (152.40 x 213.36 cm)
• Signature: Lower left: "B Thompson '63"
• Collections: Contemporary Art
• Museum Location: This item is on view in American Identities: A New Look, Modern Life, 5th Floor
• Accession Number: 81.214
• Credit Line: A. Augustus Healy Fund
• Copyright: © Estate of Bob Thompson, Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
• Image: Overall, 81.214_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
Bob Thompson (American, 1937-1966). The Judgement, 1963. Oil on canvas, 60 x 84 in. (152.40 x 213.36 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 81.214 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 81.214_SL1.jpg)