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Frieze Los Angeles 2023, Booth A15

February 16 – 19, 2023


1 of 48
Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Kaleidoscope, 1964 oil on...
Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Kaleidoscope, 1964
oil on canvas
16 x 12 inches / 40.6 x 30.5 cm
signed
Bob Thompson (1937-1966) The Golden Ass, 1963 oil...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
The Golden Ass, 1963
oil on canvas
62 1/2 x 74 1/2 inches / 158.8 x 189.2 cm
signed

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled, 1959 oil on can...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled, 1959
oil on canvas
49 x 35 1/2 inches / 124.5 x 90.2 cm
signed

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Stairway to the Stars, c....

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Stairway to the Stars, c.1962
oil and photostat on Masonite
40 x 60 inches / 101.6 x 152.4 cm
signed

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) The Circus, 1963 oil on c...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
The Circus, 1963
oil on canvas
36 3/8 x 36 3/8 inches / 92.4 x 92.4 cm
signed

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled (Oh Lawd!), 1963...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled (Oh Lawd!), 1963
oil on canvas
42 3/8 x 26 3/8 inches / 107.6 x 67 cm
signed

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Quai d'Orsay, Place d...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Quai d'Orsay, Place de la Concorde, c.1963
pastel on paper
21 1/8 x 14 1/2 inches / 53.7 x 36.8 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Harvest Rest, 1964 oil an...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Harvest Rest, 1964
oil and graphite on canvas
18 x 24 inches / 45.7 x 61 cm
signed

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled (Study for Cave)...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled (Study for Cave), 1963
oil on paper mounted on canvas
32 x 23 7/8 inches / 81.3 x 60.6 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled (Dormition of th...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled (Dormition of the Virgin), 1966
oil pastel on paper
15 x 20 inches / 38.1 x 50.8 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled, 1965 pastel on...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled, 1965
pastel on paper
17 7/8 x 23 3/4 inches / 45.4 x 60.3 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) John Ore, 1961 felt-tip p...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
John Ore, 1961
felt-tip pen on paper
13 1/2 x 10 3/4 inches / 34.3 x 27.3 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Sonny Rollins and Bob Cra...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Sonny Rollins and Bob Cranshaw at the Five Spot, c.1964-65
felt-tip pen on paper
14 x 11 inches / 35.6 x 27.9 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled, 1965 felt-tip p...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled, 1965
felt-tip pen and ink on paper
11 x 14 inches / 27.9 x 35.6 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled, 1965 felt-tip p...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled, 1965
felt-tip pen and graphite on paper
11 x 14 inches / 27.9 x 35.6 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Marijuana, 1959 oil paste...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Marijuana, 1959
oil pastel on laid paper
19 1/8 x 24 5/8 inches / 48.6 x 62.5 cm
signed

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled, 1958-59 oil on...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled, 1958-59
oil on canvasboard mounted on wood panel
16 x 12 inches / 40.6 x 30.5 cm
signed

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) The Casting of the Spell,...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
The Casting of the Spell, 1960
oil on wood
7 3/4 x 20 3/8 inches / 19.7 x 51.8 cm
signed

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled, 1963 oil on pap...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled, 1963
oil on paper mounted on canvas
31 1/2 x 25 1/2 inches / 80.6 x 64.8 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled, c.1963 felt-tip...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled, c.1963
felt-tip pen on paper
8 1/4 x 10 1/2 inches / 21 x 26.7 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled (After "Unp...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled (After "Unpleasant Surprise," 1901 by Henri Rousseau), c.1965
ink on paper
9 x 6 inches / 22.9 x 15.2 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled (After "Sco...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled (After "Scouts Attacked by a Tiger," 1904 by Henri Rousseau), c.1965
ink on paper
6 x 9 inches / 15.2 x 22.9 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled, c.1964 graphite...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled, c.1964
graphite on paper
14 x 11 3/4 inches / 35.6 x 29.8 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Three Chair Rails, c.1960...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Three Chair Rails, c.1960-64
oil on wood chair rails
2 x 12 1/2 x 3/8 inches / 5.1 x 31.8 x 1 cm (top)
2 1/4 x 12 1/2 x 3/8 inches / 5.7 x 31.8 x 1 cm (middle)
2 1/2 x 13 x 3/8 inches / 6.3 x 33 x 1 cm (bottom)
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled, c.1960 oil on w...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled, c.1960
oil on wood
19 1/2 x 16 3/4 inches / 49.5 x 42.5 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Lady Godiva Roma, 1966 in...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Lady Godiva Roma, 1966
ink on paper
8 1/2 x 11 inches / 21.6 x 27.9 cm
signed

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled, c.1962 graphite...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled, c.1962
graphite on paper
15 x 19 3/4 inches / 38.1 x 50.2 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled, c.1965 wax cray...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled, c.1965
wax crayon on paper
13 1/2 x 11 inches / 34.3 x 27.9 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Cannonball Adderley, c.19...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Cannonball Adderley, c.1962
felt-tip pen on paper
8 x 5 inches / 20.3 x 12.7 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Cannonball Adderley, c.19...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Cannonball Adderley, c.1962
felt-tip pen on paper
8 x 5 inches / 20.3 x 12.7 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Self-Portrait, c.1958-59...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Self-Portrait, c.1958-59
pastel on paper
17 5/8 x 11 3/4 inches / 44.8 x 29.8 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled, c.1964 felt-tip...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled, c.1964
felt-tip pen on paper
10 5/8 x 13 1/2 inches / 27 x 34.3 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled, c.1961-62 felt-...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled, c.1961-62
felt-tip pen on paper
10 5/8 x 13 1/2 inches / 27 x 34.3 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Jazz Drummer, c.1962 felt...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Jazz Drummer, c.1962
felt-tip pen on paper
13 1/2 x 11 1/4 inches / 34.3 x 28.6 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Danae-Rodin, 1964 ink on...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Danae-Rodin, 1964
ink on paper
13 7/8 x 16 3/4 inches / 35.2 x 42.5 cm
signed

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Ruby at Home on a Happy D...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Ruby at Home on a Happy Day, 1966
felt-tip pen on paper
16 3/4 x 15 inches / 42.5 x 38.1 cm
signed

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Peter Passuntino, 1959 in...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Peter Passuntino, 1959
ink on paper
10 7/8 x 13 7/8 inches / 27.6 x 35.2 cm
signed

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Washington Square Park, 1...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Washington Square Park, 1960
felt-tip pen on paper
17 x 14 inches / 43.2 x 35.6 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled, 1960 oil pastel...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled, 1960
oil pastel on paper
18 x 23 7/8 inches / 45.7 x 60.6 cm
signed

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Art Blakey, 1964 felt-tip...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Art Blakey, 1964
felt-tip pen on paper (two sheets over one another)
11 7/8 x 9 inches / 30.2 x 22.9 cm
signed

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) LeRoi, Stairway to (LeRoi...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
LeRoi, Stairway to (LeRoi Jones), 1960
felt-tip pen on paper
17 x 14 inches / 43.2 x 35.6 cm
signed

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled, c.1966 felt-tip...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled, c.1966
felt-tip marker on canvas
8 1/8 x 10 1/8 inches / 20.6 x 25.7 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled (Hercules and De...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled (Hercules and Deianira), 1963-65
gouache and pastel on paper with printed image
10 1/2 x 10 5/8 inches / 26.7 x 27 cm
signed

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled, 1963 gouache an...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled, 1963
gouache and watercolor on paper with printed image
9 1/4 x 11 3/4 inches / 23.5 x 29.8 cm
signed

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled, 1962 oil on Mas...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled, 1962
oil on Masonite in artist's original frame
6 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches / 16.5 x 11.4 cm
signed

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled, 1962 oil on Mas...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled, 1962
oil on Masonite in artist's original frame
6 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches / 16.5 x 11.4 cm
signed

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled, c.1963 gouache...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled, c.1963
gouache on magazine page
5 1/4 x 7 1/2 inches / 13.3 x 19.1 cm
estate stamp

Bob Thompson (1937-1966) Untitled, c.1963 gouache...

Bob Thompson (1937-1966)
Untitled, c.1963
gouache on magazine page
9 1/4 x 4 7/8 inches / 23.5 x 12.4 cm
estate stamp



Artists


Press Release

I paint many paintings that tell me slowly that I have something inside of me that is just bursting, twisting, sticking, spilling over to get out. Out into souls & mouths & eyes that have never seen before. The Monsters are present now on my canvas as in my dreams. [1]     
—Bob Thompson

Following the success of our inaugural presentation at Frieze LA last year, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery is pleased to return to Los Angeles with a solo exhibition of works by Bob Thompson (1937–1966) organized in complement to the recent traveling retrospective Bob Thompson: This House Is Mine, which concluded its nationwide tour at UCLA’s Hammer Museum in January. The gallery’s presentation at Frieze LA 2023 constitutes Michael Rosenfeld Gallery’s fifth show on Thompson and our first solo exhibition of the artist since acquiring the estate in 2019. The presentation at Frieze serves as a preview to an upcoming solo exhibition of the artist’s work that will be on view from April 1–May 26, 2023, in the gallery’s ground floor space in Chelsea.

Sixteen major paintings and over thirty works on paper are on view at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery’s Booth A15, constituting a succinct, vibrant survey of Thompson’s visionary oeuvre. The works on view were executed between 1958, the year the artist moved to New York, and 1966, the year he passed away in Rome, providing a compelling synopsis of Thompson’s career. Both our Frieze presentation and the upcoming gallery show include works that have not been publicly exhibited in decades as well as several works that appeared in This House is Mine.

In a tragically brief life, Bob Thompson created a complex body of work structured by his own symbolic lexicon, fauvist palettes, and compositional devices drawn from the European Old Master tradition. As inspired by the improvisational riffs of jazz as he was by the formal tropes of Goya, Poussin, and Tintoretto, Thompson’s viscerally executed paintings conjure a psychedelic allegory of his own experience. Often set in a pastoral countryside or dense woodlands, Thompson’s scenes are populated by Madonnas and saints, monstrous birds, anthropomorphic donkeys, shadowy men in fedoras, and much, much more. During the years he lived in New York, the artist was deeply immersed in the avant-garde scene of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, participating in Fluxus happenings, befriending Beatniks such as Allen Ginsberg and LeRoi Jones, and frequenting the city’s legendary jazz clubs, including the 5 Spot and Slugs’ Saloon.

A chance encounter with the work of German Expressionist Jan Müller (1922–1958) in the summer of 1958 set Thompson on a path to his mature style; Müller’s raw, flatly rendered allegorical paintings were a revelation to Thompson, and he sought out the artist’s widow Dodi Müller, to learn more; she advised him to eschew extended study of contemporary art in favor of close consideration of the Old Masters. Thompson subsequently took advantage of every opportunity to sketch the works of Old and Modern masters in the U.S., visiting the Barnes Collection in Philadelphia and frequenting The Metropolitan Museum of Art. He also took several long sojourns in Europe with the aid of travel grants and, after his career took off, his own funds. Sketching daily at the Louvre and various historical sites in Spain and Italy provided the artist with a seemingly infinite supply of fodder for his increasingly complex and monumental compositions.

The paintings and drawings on view at Frieze LA collectively represent the richness of Thompson’s oeuvre, portraying myriad subjects and converging a broad range of art historical references. Among the sixteen works on canvas are Harvest Rest (1964) and The Golden Ass (1963), which reimagine Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s The Harvesters (1565) and a scene from Francisco de Goya’s Los Caprichos (1797–99), respectively. Among the selection of works on paper will be Thompson’s spontaneous line drawings of various musicians he observed at the downtown jazz venues he haunted, including Cannonball Adderley, Art Blakey, Bob Cranshaw, John Ore, and Sonny Rollins.

“Thompson understood the power of the works he used and their place in the history of art,” writes curator Thelma Golden in the text accompanying Thompson’s 1998 retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American art, which she and Judith Wilson curated. “Western art offered him something which he assumed was his right to use freely. He was also clear about his desire to make these works his own: inflect their vocabulary with his grammar; infuse the agreed-upon meanings with his intention. To claim them. To signify. …Thompson’s art lay not simply in the restatement, but in the revision and replacement of these familiar passages—a philosophy that brings him into a direct affinity with his jazz musician contemporaries as well as with an entire generation of African American artists who followed his strategy.” 

Curated by Diana Tuite at the Colby College Museum of Art (Waterville, ME), Bob Thompson: This House Is Mine garnered widespread acclaim throughout its four-city national tour. The exhibition was the first solo exhibition of Thompson’s work at a museum since the 1998 Whitney show. Following its opening at the Colby Museum in July 2021, This House is Mine traveled to the Smart Museum in Chicago, the High Museum in Atlanta and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. A beautifully designed, fully illustrated catalogue published in association with Yale University Press features an impressive group of contributors, including curators Lowery Stokes Sims and Robert Cozzolino; art historians Adrienne L. Childs, Bridget R. Cooks, Jacqueline Francis, and George Nelson Preston; and artists Henry Taylor, Alex Katz, and Rashid Johnson.

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery’s relationship with the work of Bob Thompson dates to 1996, when the gallery took on representation of the estate and mounted Bob Thompson: Heroes, Martyrs & Spectres at our 57th Street location. Three more solo exhibitions followed: Fantastic Visions (1999), Meteor in a Black Hat (2005)—which traveled to the Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University in Milwaukee—and Naked at the Edge: Bob Thompson, which opened at the gallery’s current Chelsea location in 2015. The gallery published accompanying catalogues for the first three exhibitions, featuring texts by the artist’s widow Carol Thompson and jazz critic Stanley Crouch. Following twenty-three years of representation, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery acquired the Estate of Bob Thompson in 2019, a monumental procurement that included all remaining works in the family’s possession, numerous artist sketchbooks, and the artworks’ intellectual property rights.



[1] Bob Thompson, quoted in Gylbert Coker, The World of Bob Thompson, exhibition catalogue (New York: The Studio Museum in Harlem, 1978), 22