Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 7

Bob Thompson
"Untitled" Bob Thompson, Figurative Work on Paper, Black Abstract Artist

1964

$15,000
£11,138.28
€13,081.36
CA$20,869.18
A$23,365.17
CHF 12,251.12
MX$288,691.11
NOK 154,371.75
SEK 145,720.78
DKK 97,602.98
Shipping
Retrieving quote...
The 1stDibs Promise:
Authenticity Guarantee,
Money-Back Guarantee,
24-Hour Cancellation

About the Item

Bob Thompson Untitled, 1964 Felt tip pen on printed paper 11 x 20 1/2 inches Provenance: The artist Kathy Komaroff Goodman (gift from the artist) Hollis Taggart, New York Exhibited: New York, Hollis Taggart, Wild and Brilliant: The Martha Jackson Gallery and Post-War Art, November 18 - December 30, 2021. An African-American, Bob Thompson had success in the 1960s as an artist, which was unusual for black artists of that era and led to his becoming a pivotal figure for African-American artists and for art historians. However, his life was cut short when he died in Rome in 1966 just before his twenty-ninth birthday. Thompson was a modernist who adapted Paul Gauguin's Fauvist use of interlocking planes of bright colors. He often used Biblical subjects, and created an effect of idealized, faceless figures. Among his paintings were Flagellation of Christ and St. George and the Dragon. Living among avant-garde artists in New York City, where he briefly had a studio on Rivington Street, and in Provincetown, Massachusetts, he was at odds with the prevalent Pop and Op art style of the time. He was also rebellious in that he declined to fill the traditional black- artist role of doing narrative, genre work about black life in America, nor was he willing to do pure abstraction, which was being touted as an expression of universal experience. Raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Thompson had a year of frustrating pre-med studies at Boston University from 1955 to 1956, and then returned to Louisville and began art studies at the University of Louisville, where he met he met fellow student Sam Gilliam, as well as G. Caliman Coxe and Kenneth Victor Young. In 1958, he went to Provincetown, Massachusetts where he was influenced to move from abstraction to more figurative art. There he associated with figurative expressionists Lester Johnson, Red Grooms, Mimi Gross and Gandy Brodie. In 1959, he moved to New York's Lower East Side, not far from where Benny Andrews lived, and participated in group shows and single gallery exhibitions. In 1961, he first went to Europe, traveling in Rome, Madrid and Paris, and he returned in 1963. He also became a regular part of the downtown painters' and musicians' scene in New York. In 1998, the Whitney Museum of American Art held a retrospective of his figurative abstract work. Joseph Hirshorn donated 15 of Thompson's works to the Hirshorn Museum.
  • Creator:
    Bob Thompson (1937-1966, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1964
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 20 in (50.8 cm)Width: 30 in (76.2 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1841213148932

More From This Seller

View All
"Untitled" Theresa Bernstein, Expressionist Work by American Ashcan Artist
By Theresa Bernstein
Located in New York, NY
Theresa Bernstein Untitled, circa 1990 Signed lower right Oil on canvas 16 x 20 inches Theresa F. Bernstein was born in Philadelphia in 1895 to cultured, middle-class immigrant par...
Category

1990s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Untitled, " William Baziotes, Black Modern Abstract Expressionism, Surrealism
By William Baziotes
Located in New York, NY
William Baziotes (1912 - 1963) Untitled, circa 1935-1940 Oil on board 14 x 19 3/4 inches Illegible Inscription present to the verso Provenance: Previously from the estate of Consta...
Category

1930s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

"The Gathering" Theresa Bernstein, Abstracted Figures Ashcan School Artist
By Theresa Bernstein
Located in New York, NY
Theresa Bernstein The Gathering, circa 1990 Signed lower right Mixed media on paper 9 x 10 3/4 inches Theresa F. Bernstein was born in Philadelphia in 1895 to cultured, middle-clas...
Category

1990s Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media

"Composition with Figure, " Irene Rice Pereira
By Irene Rice Pereira
Located in New York, NY
Irene Rice Pereira Composition with Figure, 1951 Inscribed, signed and dated Salford/Pereira 2/51 (lr); inscribed I Rice Pereira/2669 Great Clowes St/Sa...
Category

1950s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, India Ink, Casein

"Untitled" Paul Resika, Modernist, Black and White, Abstracted Composition
By Paul Resika
Located in New York, NY
Paul Resika Untitled Signed lower right Etching on wove paper 10 1/2 x 6 inches Paul Resika (born 1928, New York, New York) is primarily recognized for his artwork featuring the di...
Category

1990s American Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Paper, Etching

"Untitled" Mary Abbott, Abstract Expressionist Collage, Ninth Street Women
By Mary Abbott
Located in New York, NY
Mary Abbott Untitled, circa 1953 Signed with initials lower right Oil and torn paper collage 17 x 14 1/2 inches Provenance: Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago Private Collection, New York (acquired directly from the above) Exhibited: Athens, Georgia, Georgia Museum of Art, Suitcase Paintings...
Category

1950s Abstract Expressionist Mixed Media

Materials

Paper

You May Also Like

"Untitled, " Acrylic on Paper - Figurative drawing
Located in Houston, TX
Faces are a recurring motif throughout Long’s extensive body of work - especially regarding eyes and mouths. This work features a misma of matter that coagulates into an image recogn...
Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Acrylic

"Image, " Abstract Figurative Acrylic & Pastel on Paper signed by Reginald K. Gee
By Reginald K. Gee
Located in Milwaukee, WI
"Image" is an original acrylic and pastel painting on paper by Reginald K. Gee. The artist initialed the piece on the back. It features abstracted, simplified figures and faces in fr...
Category

1980s Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Pastel, Acrylic

Untitled / - Association -
Located in Berlin, DE
Detlef Baltrock (*1954 Stuttgart), Untitled, 1985. Watercolor, 29.5 cm x 21 cm (visible dimensions), 41 cm x 32 cm (frame), signed “Baltrock” lower center and signed “[19]85”, label ...
Category

1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper

Untitled
Located in Barcelona, BARCELONA
The painting is being offered with a work and authenticity certificate
Category

Early 2000s Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Lithograph

Evocation 1
By Bill Rice
Located in New York, NY
Watercolor on paper Signed, verso This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. Bill Rice was considered by such luminaries as Rene Ricard to be one of the most important painters of urban life from his generation. Rice’s depictions of inner city gay men...
Category

1980s Other Art Style Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Evocation 1
Price Upon Request
Luis Miguel Valdes, ¨Homenaje a Servando XXV¨, 1986, Work on paper, 18.5x14 in
By Luis Miguel Valdes
Located in Miami, FL
"Luis Miguel Valdes (Cuba, 1949) 'Homenaje a Servando XXV', 1986 drawing, mixed media, lithograph on paper 18.6 x 14.1 in. (47 x 35.6 cm.) ID: VAL-3G1986-25"
Category

1980s Contemporary Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor