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Contemporary Art

The Judgement

Bob Thompson

Brooklyn Museum photograph

Object Label

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.

Caption

Bob Thompson (American, 1937–1966). The Judgement, 1963. Oil on canvas, 60 x 84in. (152.4 x 213.4cm) frame: 60 3/4 x 84 5/8 x 2 in. (154.3 x 214.9 x 5.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, A. Augustus Healy Fund, 81.214. © Estate of Bob Thompson, Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Gallery

Not on view

Title

The Judgement

Date

1963

Medium

Oil on canvas

Classification

Painting

Dimensions

60 x 84in. (152.4 x 213.4cm) frame: 60 3/4 x 84 5/8 x 2 in. (154.3 x 214.9 x 5.1 cm)

Signatures

Lower left: "B Thompson '63"

Credit Line

A. Augustus Healy Fund

Accession Number

81.214

Rights

© Estate of Bob Thompson, Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY

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Frequent Art Questions

  • This painting reminds me of works by Gauguin, do you know if this artist was inspired him?

    You may have read this on the label, but Bob Thompson was a noted African American artist who 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.Thompson was definitely aware of Gauguin. He borrowed freely from Gauguin, Goya, and others.(He often based his compositions on those of his predecessors.)

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Artists and makers

Bob Thompson

1 work in the collection