Speed Art Museum collects work by Bob Thompson

The newly acquired Bob Thompson, "Self Portrait in the Studio" is now on view on the second floor of the North Building at #yourSpeed! Bob Thompson was a Louisville native who took the art world by storm during the 1950s and 1960s and became one of the most respected African-American artists of the late 20th Century.

The Speed's Curator of Contemporary Art, Miranda Lash said, “Thompson, along with the great Sam Gilliam, is one of Louisville’s most important artists. Both artists emerged out of segregated Louisville in the late 1950s and early 1960s and went on to transform our understanding of contemporary painting in different ways. Thompson’s Self Portrait provides a unique glimpse into the identity of an artist who came from Kentucky and went on to create a splash in the New York art world at a remarkably young age.” Speed

Thank you Speed Art Museum and Miranda Lash for collecting this work by Bob Thompson.

Bob Thompson, a highly motivated, energetic and passionate painting student, attended the University of Louisville in 1957 and received a Hite Scholarship in his second semester. In the two years that Thompson was a student, he had the opportunity to study with a wide array of excellent teachers who inspired him to excel as a creative individual. Thompson's teachers included Dr. Justus Bier (the founder of the Hite Art Institute), Ulfert Wilke, John Frank, Charles Crodel and Dr. Dario Covi.

In the early years, the Department of Fine Arts offered a curriculum including studio classes taught in collaboration with the Louisville Art Center Association. This affiliation allowed Bob Thompson to study with Eugene Leake and Mary Spencer Nay, instructors who both served as directors of the Art Center Association.

At the University of Louisville, Bob Thompson received an education with a global perspective that integrated classical and enlightened philosophies, avant-garde ideas, modernist and figurative methodologies, as well as calligraphic expressionism and eastern spirituality.