But Thompson never doubted his talent and had a voracious appetite for culture in many forms: He consorted with New York’s Beat poets and its free jazz musicians as well as a broad range of artists.
His career lasted barely eight years, but he left behind several hundred paintings, drawings and oil studies — a fabulous horde whose magnitude is still not well known.
Some works are fairly true to the originals in their composition; elsewhere Thompson took liberties of all kinds.
Frequent additions include large silhouettes of monstrous birds that protect, threaten or attack — either physically or spiritually.
Sometimes the human figures grasp the birds by their feet, holding them aloft, like trophies or weapons.
Persons:
Bob Thompson, Thompson, Giotto, Manet
Organizations:
York’s
Locations:
Louisville, Ky, Rome