robert farris thompson flash of the spirit

Thompson’s exploits sometimes seemed as if they were conjured by Hollywood.

Thompson authored several books, including the Black Gods and Kings, a close study of the art history of the Yoruba people of Nigeria in 1971 Aesthetic of the Cool: Afro-Atlantic Art and Music in 2011 and Flash of the Spirit, a dive into African influence in the New World praised upon its publication in 1983 for doing for “art history what the dunk shot did for basketball.” He was also working on a comprehensive history of mambo. In 1959, he returned to Yale to pursue a doctorate in art history, which he was awarded in 1965.īeginning with a Ford Foundation fellowship to travel to Nigeria for fieldwork, Thompson made at least 14 trips to the African continent and traveled widely throughout South America in the service of what he called “guerrilla scholarship.” He spoke fluent Ki-Kongo, Yoruba, French, Spanish, and Portuguese, and several variants of Creole. Following a two-year stint in the Army, during which he toured as a drummer with the “All Army Talent Show,” Thompson released Safari of One, an Afro-Cuban Percussion Album. He later recalled immediately getting “hopelessly hooked on mambo.”Īfter high school, Thompson enrolled at Yale, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in 1955. On a trip to Mexico during his senior year of prep school, he first heard mambo, a propulsive fusion of swing, jazz, and Cuban ballroom music. His father was a surgeon, and his mother, a local arts patron, gave him his first lessons in art history.

Thompson was born in 1932 in El Paso, Texas. Urn:oclc:802543968 Republisher_date 20180105161945 Republisher_operator Republisher_time 389 Scandate 20180104142058 Scanner Scanningcenter hongkong Top_six true Tts_version v1.Lou Stovall, Printmaker to Stars Such as Jacob Lawrence and Sam Gilliam, Dies at 86 O元574916W Page-progression lr Page_number_confidence 91.57 Pages 346 Ppi 300 Related-external-id urn:isbn:0307874338 Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 21:04:47 Bookplateleaf 0004 Boxid IA1162406 City New York Donorīostonpubliclibrary Edition 1st ed.

Robert farris thompson flash of the spirit