Bob Gibson
Artist
Lance Richbourg
(American, born 1938)
Date1983-84
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions60 × 84 in. (152.4 × 213.4 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Object numberUAC6442
Description“Bob Gibson” depicts the titular figure mid pitch, winding up to release as the rest of the field is caught in a freeze frame of the moment of physical tension. The visible brushstrokes that Gibson uses to render the image give the painting a photographic quality, where the focus rests on the pitcher and the mound and the rest of the background fades into a blur of fleshtones and color specks. This massive canvas, eight feet long, seems to honor the image it captures with the size of the work as well as the skillful use of focus. Bob Gibson, known for being an extremely skilled pitcher, seems immortalized here in a moment that seems to represent not only the pitch of the actual game going on, but every pitch he threw and the expressiveness of the sport.
Lance Richbourg is the son of Lance Richbourg Sr, a baseball player in the 1920s. From this connection to the broader sport of Baseball, Richbourg jr. found the subject matter of his earliest works. In the 1970s, RIchbourg had garnered a reputation for painting the present moment of the baseball scene with an eye for the dynamism of the sport. More recently, his work has explored a more abstracted, painterly style, and an interest in Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio.
Written by Alex Heath
