Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2020.

The Hanging

Artist Bob Thompson (American, 1937 - 1966)

CultureAmerican

Date1959

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall, Frame: 73 1/2 × 109 3/4 × 1 3/4 in. (186.7 × 278.8 × 4.4 cm)

InscribedSigned front lower right: "THOMPSON '59"

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.3093

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 223

Label TextBob Thompson American (1937–1966) The Hanging, 1959 Oil on canvas Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.3093 "I am trying to show what’s happening, what’s going on… in my own private way." Bob Thompson, 1965 The Hanging depicts a brutal scene in which the victim, seen dangling from a tree on the left, is surrounded by sinister figures on horseback. At the time, this image was ingrained on the minds of many African-Americans, who lived in fear of such violence. Thompson’s work echoes the lynching of fourteen-year-old Emmitt Till four years earlier, a major injustice that ignited the Civil Rights Movement. Thompson was one of the few African-American artists who rose to critical acclaim in the predominantly white, male New York art world of the 1950s and ‘60s. He spent time at the Cedar Bar, the well-known hangout of the Abstract Expressionists, and in 1959, he participated in the first Happenings, or art performances. Despite his success, Thompson never forgot his roots.Exhibition History"American Figure Painting: 1950-1980," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, October 16 - November 30, 1980. "Remix Redux: A Fresh Mix For Our Modern And Contemporary Galleries," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, August 15 - December 30, 2012. "Bob Thompson: This House is Mine," Colby Museum of Art, Waterville, ME, July 20, 2021 – January 9, 2022; Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, IL, February 10, 2022 – May 15, 2022; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, June 18, 2022 – September 11, 2022.Published ReferencesThomas W. Styron, _American Figure Painting: 1950-1980_ (Norfolk, VA: Chrysler Museum of Art, 1980) ill. p.21. Diane Tuite, ed., _Bob Thompson: This House is Mine_, exh. cat., Colby College Museum of Art in association with Yale University Press, 2021, 104-105, plate 35.