Bob Thompson at work in his studio, 1964. Bob Thompson papers, 1949–2005. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Bob Thompson at work in his studio, 1964. Bob Thompson papers, 1949–2005. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
So let us all be citizens too
David Zwirner is pleased to announce So let us all be citizens too at the gallery’s London location, curated by Ebony L. Haynes, senior director of 52 Walker. This group exhibition explores and celebrates the legacy of postwar American artist Bob Thompson (1937–1966) and his dynamic figurative style and use of color. The companion survey, Bob Thompson: So let us all be citizens, will be on view concurrently at 52 Walker, New York.
Image: Installation view, So let us all be citizens too, David Zwirner, London, 2023
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Location
Dates
April 20—May 26, 2023
Gallery Hours
Tues—Sat 10am–6pm
Curators
Ebony L Haynes
Artist
Including, Emma Amos, Michael Armitage, Betty Blayton, Vivian Browne, Beverly Buchanan, Lewis Hammond, Cynthia Hawkins, Marcus Jahmal, Danielle Mckinney, Cassi Namoda, Chris Ofili, Naudline Pierre, George Nelson Preston, Devin Troy Strother, Bob Thompson, Peter Williams
“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.”
—Bob Thompson
Bringing together contemporary international artists of several generations whose aesthetic affinities to Thompson are both discernible and surprising, this exhibition includes paintings and works on paper by Emma Amos, Michael Armitage, Betty Blayton, Vivian Browne, Beverly Buchanan, Lewis Hammond, Cynthia Hawkins, Marcus Jahmal, Danielle Mckinney, Cassi Namoda, Chris Ofili, Naudline Pierre, George Nelson Preston, Devin Troy Strother, and Peter Williams. A concurrent exhibition on view at 52 Walker New York, Bob Thompson: So let us all be citizens , features a range of paintings that spotlight the artist’s jazz-influenced style and how he used this method to engage new audiences within the history of painting.
Bob Thompson, Untitled (Augustus) / Self Portrait, 1963 (detail)
Bob Thompson, Untitled (Augustus) / Self Portrait, 1963 (detail)
Thompson possessed a particular consideration for color, line, and figuration during a period when abstraction was the dominant trend in American art. Over the course of his short, but dynamic, career, Thompson developed a vital new figurative style influenced by jazz music, abstract expressionism, and mythological subjects.
Installation view, So let us all be citizens too, David Zwirner, London, 2023
Installation view, So let us all be citizens too, David Zwirner, London, 2023
In her paintings, sculptures, and drawings, Naudline Pierre (b. 1989) depicts an otherworldly realm brimming with the drama of agony, ecstasy, revelation, damnation, and redemption. At once fantastical, biblical, and mythological, Pierre’s large-scale canvases often center on a recurring central female figure, and recall compositions by artists such as Francisco de Goya, Caravaggio, and El Greco.
Naudline Pierre
For the Wounded, 2023
Oil and oilstick on canvas
96 1/8 x 60 1/4 inches (244.2 x 153 cm)
Rendered in a brilliant jewel-tone palette, the artist’s paintings display the ways in which she deftly handles paint, with sections of rich texture, passages of what appears to be an almost sheer application of oil paint, and areas of fine detail. In the present work, a golden-winged figure appears to be helping a female figure whose body is engulfed in black flames. Surrounded by bodiless, winged creatures with long flowing hair, the central supine figure gazes out at the viewer with a calm, confident stare.
Naudline Pierre, For the Wounded, 2023 (detail)
Naudline Pierre, For the Wounded, 2023 (detail)
On the influence of Thompson, Pierre has said, “Thompson feels like a part of a lineage for me. Like a distant family member. You can absorb someone’s influence and it leaks out in different ways. Certainly there’s the sense of color, the flattening of three-dimensional aspects of the figure, overlapping of bodies, and subtraction of detail for the sake of composition. There’s a lot of imagination to his work, and I too am not interested in things seeming real, but rather seeming unreal. I can’t not think about race. In my everyday existence, I feel the spaces where people like me haven’t been seen. But I’m also thinking about the freedom of creating my own version of those spaces, bursting through what’s been done before.”
Naudline Pierre
Love's Final Abyss, 2023
Oil and oilstick on canvas
72 1/2 x 60 inches 184.2 x 152.4 cm
American artist, arts educator, and activist, Betty Blayton (1937–2016) is known for her vibrant kaleidoscopic abstract paintings. Blayton, who referred to herself as a "spiritual impressionist," created a vibrant oeuvre that incorporated a broad range of influences including European modernists Marc Chagall, Wassily Kandinsky, and Paul Klee as well as spiritualism, transcendental thought, jazz music, and the work of postwar American painter Sam Gilliam.
Betty Blayton
Reaching for Center, 1970
Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas in artist's frame
Diameter: 58 1/2 inches (148.6 cm)
The present painting is rendered in Blayton’s signature tondo format, which she began using in the 1960s. According to the artist, “The circle is very symbolic for me. The circle is never-ending and life is often this way through the stages of one’s being…starting from babyhood and moving on.” Here, elongated forms converge in the middle of the composition, echoing the title of the work, Reaching for Center.
Betty Blayton, Reaching for Center, 1970 (detail)
Betty Blayton, Reaching for Center, 1970 (detail)
Chris Ofili (b. 1968) creates intricate, kaleidoscopic paintings and works on paper that deftly merge abstraction and figuration. Ofili rose to prominence in the 1990s for his complex and playful multilayered paintings, which he bedecked with a signature blend of resin, glitter, collage, and, often, elephant dung. His works—vibrant, symbolic, and frequently mysterious—draw upon the lush landscapes and local traditions of the island of Trinidad, where he has lived since 2005.
Chris Ofili
The Judgement of Paris, 2019-2023
Oil and charcoal on linen
Diptych
Diptych
Left: 19 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (50 x 40 cm)
Right: 15 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches (40 x 30 cm)
Right: 15 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches (40 x 30 cm)
The present diptych by Ofili depicts the Greek mythological scene in which the Trojan prince Paris must award a prized golden apple to the goddess—Athena, Hera, or Aphrodite—whom he deems the fairest, an event that would become the catalyst for the Trojan War. Featuring Ofili's characteristic vibrant hues and sinuous, fantastical figures, The Judgement of Paris (2019–2023) is inspired by Thompson's 1963 painting of the same title—a work that in turn closely references Lucas Cranach the Elder's The Judgment of Paris (c. 1528; collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), replacing the German Renaissance painter's figures and landscape with vivid, jewel-like fields of color.
Chris Ofili, The Judgement of Paris, 2019-2023 (detail)
Chris Ofili, The Judgement of Paris, 2019-2023 (detail)
Vivian Browne (1929–1993) created brightly colored paintings with high-contrast palettes that move fluidly from figuration to abstraction. As a founder of the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition in 1969 and a member of the feminist collective Heresies, Browne believed in the political power of artmaking.
Vivian Browne
Diversities, 1973
Acrylic on canvas
54 x 54 1/8 inches (137.2 x 137.5 cm)
Framed: 56 x 56 1/8 inches (142.2 x 142.6 cm)
Framed: 56 x 56 1/8 inches (142.2 x 142.6 cm)
The present work belongs to one of Browne’s major series, Africa, which she created after her travels to the continent in 1971. Composed of highly abstracted landscapes that capture the artist’s emotional response to her visit, this body of work marked a shift in her practice from figuration to abstraction. On the series, she noted, “The expression was an abstract idea—not an abstract of a particular thing, but an abstract of a particular feeling, of a particular surrounding and an experience.… The colors were much more heightened; the use of pattern was there because that was pervading everything that I saw or reacted to in Africa.”
Vivian Browne, Diversities, 1973 (detail)
Vivian Browne, Diversities, 1973 (detail)
The paintings and drawings of Kenyan-British artist Michael Armitage (b. 1984) give shape to real and imagined histories of East Africa, constructing nuanced, deeply rooted impressions of the myriad sociopolitical and cultural contexts that affect contemporary daily life in the region. Executed in a distinctive lush palette, these sweeping compositions vividly combine visual references to recent events, the art-historical canon, the artist’s East African artistic milieu, and his own memories, while also generating space for the spiritual and the symbolic.
Michael Armitage
Tea Picker, 2023
Oil on Lubugo bark cloth
39 3/8 x 59 inches (100 x 150 cm)
Set in Kenya, outside Nairobi, the present painting depicts a tea farm framed by a swirling, overcast gray sky. At the bottom of the composition, a lone female figure looks out at the viewer, her back bent under the weight of tea-filled baskets and bundles. As the artist has described, the woman appears to be having a vision: above her floats the surreal image of two larger-than-life heads, rendered in strokes of burnt orange and brown, that are conjoined at the neck. Mixing a vivid, almost photographic sense of reality with elements from an unearthly realm, the present work constructs a narrative that is highly attuned to its own enigmas and uncertainties.
Michael Armitage, Tea Picker, 2023 (detail)
Michael Armitage, Tea Picker, 2023 (detail)
See Works by All Artists in So let us all be citizens too
Installation view, So let us all be citizens too, David Zwirner, London, 2023
Installation view, So let us all be citizens too, David Zwirner, London, 2023
As a key figure of twentieth-century art, artist, educator, and activist Emma Amos (1937–2020) gained renown for her lively body of work, which includes paintings, prints, and textiles. After graduating from Antioch College with a degree in fine arts in 1958, Amos moved to London where she concentrated on her printmaking practice. While there, she was increasingly influenced by American abstract expression and created primarily colorful abstract compositions.
Emma Amos
Blue Balls, 1964
Oil on canvas in artist's frame
41 1/8 x 51 1/8 inches (104.5 x 130 cm)
The present painting is a rare example of Amos's early artistic period. Rendered in a cerulean blue, burnt orange, sunny yellow, and vibrant green, and reading like an abstract landscape, the work belongs to Amos's Attitude series from the 1960s, in which she created paintings, often self-portraits, that celebrated freedom and sexuality. Here, you see the outline of a leg splitting the composition in two as well as the legs and buttocks of a second figure, shown in profile, on the left side of the canvas.
Emma Amos
Gold Face Type, 1966
Silkscreen print on paper
Image: 19 1/8 x 14 3/4 inches (48.6 x 37.5 cm)
Framed: 26 1/8 x 21 3/4 inches (66.4 x 55.3 cm)
Framed: 26 1/8 x 21 3/4 inches (66.4 x 55.3 cm)
Danielle Mckinney (b. 1981) creates richly hued atmospheric paintings that foreground the painted Black female figure. Often featuring Black women nestled in sumptuously rendered domestic spaces, Mckinney’s compositions capture intimate moments of solitude or a glance into her subject’s interiority. To create her tonal paintings, the artist begins by priming her canvas with black pigment before painting her figures and then their surroundings.
Danielle Mckinney
Sunday Morning, 2023
Oil on linen
16 x 12 inches (40.6 x 30.5 cm)
Citing the work of wide-ranging artists including Barkley L. Hendricks, Francisco de Zurbarán, Jacob Lawrence, and Henri Matisse as inspiration, Mckinney draws equally from diverse painterly techniques as she does from Lawrence’s and Hendricks’s impulse to assert the place of the Black figure in the art-historical canon. Here, a young girl rests her head atop her hands on what appears to be a kitchen table. Dressed in a white puffed-sleeve dress and wearing bright pink nail polish, the figure appears serene.
Danielle Mckinney, Sunday Morning, 2023 (detail)
Danielle Mckinney, Sunday Morning, 2023 (detail)
New York-based artist Marcus Jahmal (b. 1990) paints in a style he describes as “filtered realism.” He creates richly colored canvases that depict scenes that are at once familiar and absurd, painting landscapes, portraits, and still lifes. Following in the surrealist tradition, he practices automatic drawing, culling images from a variety of sources, including photographs, memories, and his daily life, before painting directly on the canvas.
Marcus Jahmal
Emerald scene of contemplation, 2023
Oil on canvas in artist's frame
81 1/2 x 98 1/2 inches (209.6 x 250.2 cm)
Among Jahmal's influences, he cites Jacob Lawrence, Francis Bacon, Robert Colescott, and Henri Matisse. He views painting as a way to observe the world around him. His goal, he says, is ultimately “to paint something familiar … and flip it on its head.” The deep allegorical symbolism and vibrant colors of his imagined landscapes convey a sense of psychological intensity and make for particularly ominous scenes.
Marcus Jahmal
Tree stack and smoke break, 2023
Oil on canvas in artist's frame
81 1/2 x 98 1/2 inches (209.6 x 250.2 cm)
Although his career only spanned a brief eight years from 1958 to his untimely death at the age of twenty-eight in 1966, Thompson left behind a singular body of work that turned away from the then-dominant modes of abstract expressionism. His paintings boldly appropriated compositions from the art-historical canon and featured a vibrant color palette and flat, interlocking planes, recasting classical figures and forms into fantastical guises that revealed the pleasure and turbulence of the human condition.
Bob Thompson, not after 1966. Paul Suttman papers, 1947–1998. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Bob Thompson, not after 1966. Paul Suttman papers, 1947–1998. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
“Out into souls and mouths and eyes that have never seen before. The monsters are present now on my canvas as in my dreams.”
—Bob Thompson
Inquire about works in So let us all be citizens too
Emma Amos
Blue Balls, 1964
Oil on canvas in artist's frame
41 1/8 x 51 1/8 inches (104.5 x 130 cm)
Emma Amos
Inside and Outside, 1966
Silkscreen
21 x 32 inches (53.3 x 81.3 cm)
Framed: 27 3/8 x 39 inches (69.5 x 99.1 cm)
Framed: 27 3/8 x 39 inches (69.5 x 99.1 cm)
Emma Amos
Gold Face Type, 1966
Silkscreen print on paper
Image: 19 1/8 x 14 3/4 inches (48.6 x 37.5 cm)
Framed: 26 1/8 x 21 3/4 inches (66.4 x 55.3 cm)
Framed: 26 1/8 x 21 3/4 inches (66.4 x 55.3 cm)
Michael Armitage
Tea Picker, 2023
Oil on Lubugo bark cloth
39 3/8 x 59 inches (100 x 150 cm)
Betty Blayton
Reaching for Center, 1970
Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas in artist's frame
Diameter: 58 1/2 inches (148.6 cm)
Vivian Browne
Diversities, 1973
Acrylic on canvas
54 x 54 1/8 inches (137.2 x 137.5 cm)
Framed: 56 x 56 1/8 inches (142.2 x 142.6 cm)
Framed: 56 x 56 1/8 inches (142.2 x 142.6 cm)
Beverly Buchanan
Sunrise, 2004
Oil pastel on paper
22 3/8 x 29 3/4 inches (56.8 x 75.6 cm)
Framed: 25 7/8 x 33 3/8 inches (65.7 x 84.8 cm)
Framed: 25 7/8 x 33 3/8 inches (65.7 x 84.8 cm)
Beverly Buchanan
Leaning into Summer, 2004
Oil pastel on paper
22 x 30 inches (55.9 x 76.2 cm)
Framed: 24 3/4 x 33 1/4 inches (62.9 x 84.5 cm)
Framed: 24 3/4 x 33 1/4 inches (62.9 x 84.5 cm)
Lewis Hammond
figure in ruins, 2023
Oil on canvas
90 1/2 x 78 3/4 inches (230 x 200 cm)
Lewis Hammond
Stutter (after Evelyn), 2023
Oil on linen
43 1/4 x 31 1/2 inches (110 x 80 cm)
Cynthia Hawkins
Clusters: Pi Scorpii, 2003
Acrylic on canvas
49 5/8 x 40 1/8 inches (126 x 101.9 cm)
Cynthia Hawkins
Clusters: Eta and Acrux Don't Live in the Same Neighborhood, 2003-2004
Acrylic on canvas
49 7/8 x 40 inches (126.7 x 101.6 cm)
Marcus Jahmal
Tree stack and smoke break, 2023
Oil on canvas in artist's frame
81 1/2 x 98 1/2 inches (209.6 x 250.2 cm)
Marcus Jahmal
Emerald scene of contemplation, 2023
Oil on canvas in artist's frame
81 1/2 x 98 1/2 inches (209.6 x 250.2 cm)
Danielle Mckinney
Sunday Morning, 2023
Oil on linen
16 x 12 inches (40.6 x 30.5 cm)
Danielle Mckinney
After the Storm, 2020
Acrylic on canvas panel
20 x 16 inches (50.8 x 40.6 cm)
Cassi Namoda
Lovingly at Mercado de peixe, 2023
Oil on Belgian linen
66 x 48 inches (167.6 x 121.9 cm)
Chris Ofili
The Judgement of Paris, 2019-2023
Oil and charcoal on linen
Diptych
Diptych
Left: 19 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (50 x 40 cm)
Right: 15 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches (40 x 30 cm)
Right: 15 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches (40 x 30 cm)
Chris Ofili
The Judgement of Paris, 2019-2023
Oil and charcoal on linen
Diptych
Diptych
Left: 19 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches (50 x 40 cm)
Right: 15 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches (40 x 30 cm)
Right: 15 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches (40 x 30 cm)
Naudline Pierre
For the Wounded, 2023
Oil and oilstick on canvas
96 1/8 x 60 1/4 inches (244.2 x 153 cm)
Naudline Pierre
Love's Final Abyss, 2023
Oil and oilstick on canvas
72 1/2 x 60 inches 184.2 x 152.4 cm
George Nelson Preston
From the Palimpsests: A Model, A Sybil and a Fetish, 1963
Charcoal, wood, and acrylic on paper
24 x 19 inches (61 x 48.3 cm)
Framed: 30 1/2 x 24 1/2 inches (77.5 x 62.2 cm)
Framed: 30 1/2 x 24 1/2 inches (77.5 x 62.2 cm)
George Nelson Preston
Palimpsests: The Artist's Model Dreamed of Ancient Africa, 1962/1996/2005
Charcoal, ink, paper, and wood on paper
27 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches (69.8 x 54.6 cm)
Framed: 30 1/2 x 24 1/2 inches (77.5 x 62.2 cm)
Framed: 30 1/2 x 24 1/2 inches (77.5 x 62.2 cm)
George Nelson Preston
Palimpsests: Artist, Model and Pencil, 1963
Charcoal, paper, and tape on paper
24 x 19 inches (61 x 48.3 cm)
Framed: 30 1/2 x 24 1/2 inches (77.5 x 62.2 cm)
Framed: 30 1/2 x 24 1/2 inches (77.5 x 62.2 cm)
George Nelson Preston
Red Sunrise, Lake Soyaltepec/Amancer Rosado, Lago de Soyaltepec, 1962
Tempera on paper
18 x 24 inches (45.7 x 61 cm)
Framed: 25 3/4 x 31 7/8 inches (65.4 x 81 cm)
Framed: 25 3/4 x 31 7/8 inches (65.4 x 81 cm)
George Nelson Preston
From the Ayahuasca Notebook: Shaman Txai Kuin Contemplating Arpoador Beach and Beyond (I) / Do caderno de Ayahuasca: Pajé Txai Kuin contemplanado a Praia Arpador é alem (I), 2022
Oil on canvas
17 3/4 x 24 inches (45.1 x 61 cm)
Devin Troy Strother
To Invest Into Future New Futures, 2022
Enamel, watercolor, acrylic, oil pastel, and gouache on paper
16 x 12 inches (40.6 x 30.5 cm)
Framed: 21 1/8 x 17 1/8 inches (53.7 x 43.5 cm)
Framed: 21 1/8 x 17 1/8 inches (53.7 x 43.5 cm)
Devin Troy Strother
Birds On A Wire, 2022
Enamel, watercolor, acrylic, oil pastel, and gouache on paper
12 x 16 inches (30.5 x 40.6 cm)
Framed: 17 x 21 1/8 inches (43.2 x 53.7 cm)
Framed: 17 x 21 1/8 inches (43.2 x 53.7 cm)
Devin Troy Strother
Sending My Groove To A Thousand Places, 2022
Watercolor, acrylic, oil pastel, and gouache on paper
12 x 16 inches (30.5 x 40.6 cm)
Framed: 17 1/8 x 21 1/8 inches (43.5 x 53.7 cm)
Framed: 17 1/8 x 21 1/8 inches (43.5 x 53.7 cm)
Devin Troy Strother
Far Away Land Of Shapes And Places, 2022
Enamel, watercolor, acrylic, oil pastel, and gouache on paper
12 x 16 inches (30.5 x 40.6 cm)
Framed: 17 1/8 x 21 1/8 inches (43.5 x 53.7 cm)
Framed: 17 1/8 x 21 1/8 inches (43.5 x 53.7 cm)
Bob Thompson
Abundance and the Four Elements, 1964
Oil on canvas
8 1/4 x 10 1/8 inches (21 x 25.7 cm)
Framed: 13 1/2 x 15 1/4 x 1 3/4 inches (34.2 x 38.7 cm)
Private Collection, Courtesy Donald Morris Gallery
© The Estate of Bob Thompson and Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York
Framed: 13 1/2 x 15 1/4 x 1 3/4 inches (34.2 x 38.7 cm)
Private Collection, Courtesy Donald Morris Gallery
© The Estate of Bob Thompson and Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York
Bob Thompson
La Femme Dans La Peinture Francaise (La jarretière détachée by Jean-François de Troy), 1961
Oil on paper
13 5/8 x 10 1/2 inches (34.6 x 26.7 cm)
Framed: 19 3/4 x 18 1/8 inches (50.2 x 46 cm)
Framed: 19 3/4 x 18 1/8 inches (50.2 x 46 cm)
Bob Thompson
Adam and Eve, 1964
Gouache on paper
10 3/4 x 10 1/2 inches (27.3 x 26.7 cm)
Framed: 16 1/8 x 15 1/2 inches (41 x 39.5 cm)
Framed: 16 1/8 x 15 1/2 inches (41 x 39.5 cm)
Bob Thompson
Study for Ascension to the Heavens, 1963
Gouache and pastel on paper
24 x 18 1/4 inches (61 x 46.4 cm)
Framed: 31 3/8 x 26 1/8 inches (79.8 x 66.4 cm)
Framed: 31 3/8 x 26 1/8 inches (79.8 x 66.4 cm)
Bob Thompson
Untitled (Augustus) / Self Portrait, 1963
Gouache on paper over printed image
12 1/4 x 17 3/4 inches (31.1 x 45.1 cm)
Framed: 16 3/4 x 22 1/4 inches (42.4 x 56.4 cm)
Framed: 16 3/4 x 22 1/4 inches (42.4 x 56.4 cm)
Peter Williams
[Bent Word], 2021
Oil on canvas
29 7/8 x 40 inches (75.9 x 101.6 cm)
Framed: 30 5/8 x 40 4/5 inches (77.8 x 103.6 cm)
Framed: 30 5/8 x 40 4/5 inches (77.8 x 103.6 cm)
Peter Williams
Money, Power, Desire, 2013
Watercolor and graphite on paper
22 x 30 inches (55.9 x 76.2 cm)
Framed: 26 3/4 x 34 1/2 inches (68 x 87.6 cm)
Framed: 26 3/4 x 34 1/2 inches (68 x 87.6 cm)
Peter Williams
Untitled, 2021
Oil and graphite on canvas
40 x 30 inches (101.6 x 76.2 cm)
Peter Williams
All That Jazz, 2019
Oil and graphite on canvas
72 x 96 inches (182.9 x 243.8 cm)