Archives

Under Development

The RFTMI Online Archive will serve as a living, evolving repository dedicated to the study, preservation and activation of Afro-Atlantic arts.  Rooted in Robert Farris Thompson’s lifelong commitment to integrative context-based inquiry and embodiment, the archive is composed of dialogues, references, performances, images, texts, films and pedagogical materials.

Cover image of Robert Farris Thompson's notebook courtesy of Caitlin Gaylord Churchill, RFT's granddaughter.

“When my grandfather and I were together, I drew some of the images I found in his notes on the white board we use to communicate and he told me what they were. At one point he said, ‘you know why chalk is sacred’? ‘Because it’s the color of the other world.’ When I’m with him, the other world is right there.” 

–CAITLIN GAYLORD CHURCHILL, granddaughter of Robert Farris Thompson, 2021

Bárbaro Ramos-Aldazábal performs Ogún with Irawo Osa, Nublu, NYC, June 4, 2024.

Select Books by Robert Farris Thompson

Black-and-blue illustrated cover reading “Black Gods and Kings,” featuring abstract tribal-style figures and patterns.

Black Gods and Kings:
Yoruba Art at UCLA (1971)

Colorful embroidered African textile artwork with geometric patterns and fringe, titled “African Art in Motion.”

African Art in Motion: Icon and Act in the Collection of Katharine Coryton White (1974)

Stone artwork titled “The Four Moments of the Sun,” featuring four circular stones connected around a diamond-shaped opening.

The Four Moments of the Sun:
Kongo Art in Two Worlds (1981)

Book cover of Flash of the Spirit: African & Afro-American Art & Philosophy by Robert Farris Thompson, featuring a masked figure.

Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy (1983)

Book cover for "Face of the Gods: Art and Altars of Africa and the African Americas," featuring a candlelit ritual scene on textured earth.

Face of the Gods: Art and Altars of Africa and the African Americas (1993)

Abstract brown and black geometric textile pattern with dotted lines, radiating shapes, and circular motifs; overlaid text reads “ABUTI DESIGN.”

Mbuti Design: Paintings by Pygmy Women of the Ituri Forest
(contributor, 1995)

Book cover for TANGO: The Art History of Love by Robert Farris Thompson, with a rose and red-toned dancing couple.

Tango:
The Art History of Love (2005)

Book cover for "Blues for New Orleans: Mardi Gras and America's Creole Soul" by Roger D. Abrahams, Nick Spitzer, John F. Szwed, and Robert Farris Thompson

Blues for New Orleans: Mardi Gras and America’s Creole Soul
(with collaborators, 2006)

Magazine cover featuring a woman in traditional attire balancing a woven basket on her head, with colorful “COOL” typography and Afro-Atlantic art and music text.

Aesthetic of the Cool: Afro-Atlantic Art and Music (2011)

Abstract mixed-media portrait of a blue-clad figure with a black face, red eyes, and yellow accents on lined paper

Jean-Michel Basquiat
(with Rene Ricard, 2015)