BOB THOMPSON (1937 - 1966)
Is One.

Oil on masonite, 1958. 1520x1217 mm; 60x48 inches. Signed in oil, lower right recto. Signed, titled, dated and inscribed "Provincetown" in oil, verso. With a WPC printed sticker on the verso.

Provenance: the artist, Provincetown, 1958; estate of Alexander Raydon, New York.

Jay Milder, a close artist friend who lived and worked with Bob Thompson in Provincetown through 1958, has confirmed the authenticity of this painting. According to Mr. Milder, Bob Thompson painted other figures in yellow "rain coats" that year.

An extraordinary early self-portait by this artist from his breakout period in Provincetown. In the summer of 1958, Thompson began to add figurative elements to his abstract painting - greatly influenced by fellow resident artists Jan Müller and Gandy Brodie. Beginning with his hommage The Funeral of Jan Müller, these early works are painted in a darker, cooler palette on masonite. Unlike his mature style, these early works are also signed either "Rob Thompson or R. Thompson" in block letters and inscribed on the verso. The Provincetown paintings were all exhibited in the 1958 Provincetown Arts Festival sponsored by the Chrysler Museum, of which Walter Chrylser purchased 13 of the works. Today few works are known - from this group, we have found only The Funeral of Jan Muller and Monkey Face in museum exhibitions, with only the former reproduced.

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