La Mort des Enfant de Bethel

Although Bob Thompson takes the title and composition for La Mort des Enfant de Bethel from a 1653 painting by French artist Laurent de la Hyre (pictured here), he re-imagines the work for a mid-twentieth-century audience. La Hyre depicted a story from the New Testament of the Bible, in which King Herod ordered the murder of all male children near Bethlehem in an attempt to secure his throne. Instead of mimicking La Hyre’s classical rendering of realistic figures and ancient ruins, Thompson takes an innovative approach to the subject by incorporating a loose style and vibrant colors inspired by abstract art and his love of jazz.

In the context of the civil unrest in 1960s America, the biblical reference assumes new significance. The year before Thompson painted this work, a bomb exploded at a church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young girls attending Sunday school. In a kaleidoscopic array of hues, this work features people of many colors, not only black victims. In this way, he frames the struggles of one group of Americans as the responsibility of all Americans.