{"id":3885,"title":"Homage to Nina Simone","medium":"Oil on canvas","classification":"Paintings","dimension":"48 x 72 1/8 in. (121.92 x 183.2 cm) (sight)\r\n50 1/8 x 74 1/8 x 2 1/4 in. (127.32 x 188.28 x 5.72 cm) (outer frame)","object_name":"Painting","continent":"Americas","country":"United States","nationality":"American","dated":"1965","room":"Not on View","list":"bhm","role":"Artist","signed":"LL in black: B Thompson '65","text":"A year before his death at age twenty-eight, the African-American artist Bob Thompson painted this tribute to the jazz musician Nina Simone. The brightly colored silhouettes bounded by sinuous contours recall the work of the early 20th-century French painter Henri Matisse. Like Matisse, Thompson created idyllic landscapes containing relaxed nude figures. Here, the simplified interrelated forms suggest the rhythms and energy of Simone's music.\r\n\r\nWhile living in Europe Thompson frequented museums, and he often based his compositions and themes on those of the old masters. <I>Homage</I> is a variation on Nicolas Poussin's <I>Bacchanal with Lute-Player</I> of about 1630, which Thompson had studied at the Louvre, in Paris.","creditline":"The John R. Van Derlip Fund","accession_number":"89.83","artist":"Bob Thompson","life_date":"American, 1937 – 1966","image_copyright":"© Estate of Bob Thompson, Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY","department":"Arts of the Americas","rights_type":"In Copyright","image_width":5063,"image_height":3378,"recent":0,"see_also":[],"sort_number":"89    83","image":"valid","public_access":1,"curator_approved":1,"highlights":0,"Cache_Location":"003000\\800\\80\\3885","Primary_RenditionNumber":"mia_1005185.jpg","Rights_Image_Display":"Limited","list:bhm":true,"restricted":1,"related:audio-stops":[{"title":"Bob Thompson, Homage to Nina Simone","_id":"3885","objectId":"3885","link":"http://audio-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/p885.mp3","number":"885","type":"audio"}],"mtime":"2026-02-04T06:00:50.797Z"}