Alma Woodsey Thomas (September 22, 1891 – February 24, 1978) was an African-American artist and teacher who lived and worked in Washington, D.C., and is now recognized as a major American painter of the 20th century. Thomas is best known for the "exuberant", colorful, abstract paintings that she created after her retirement from a 35-year career teaching art at Washington's

Shaw Junior High School Shaw Junior High School, now known as Asbury Dwellings, is an historic structure located in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It has been listed on the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites and on the National Register of Histor ...

. Thomas, who is often considered a member of the

Washington Color School The Washington Color School, also known as the Washington, D.C., Color School, was an art movement starting during the 1950s–1970s in Washington, D.C., in the United States, built of abstract expressionist artists. The movement emerged during ...

art movement but alternatively classified by some as an Expressionist, earned her teaching degree from University of the District of Columbia (known as Miner Normal School at the time) and was the first graduate of Howard University's Art department, and maintained connections to that university through her life. She achieved success as an African-American female artist despite the segregation and prejudice of her time. Thomas's reputation has continued to grow since her death. Her paintings are displayed in notable museums and collections, and they have been the subject of several books and solo museum exhibitions. In 2021, a museum sold Thomas's painting ''Alma's Flower Garden'' in a private transaction for $2.8 million.

Life and work

Childhood, education, and early teaching positions

Alma Thomas was born on September 22, 1891, in Columbus, Georgia, as the oldest of four daughters, to John Harris Thomas, a businessman, and Amelia Cantey Thomas, a dress designer. Her mother and aunts, she later wrote, were teachers and Tuskegee Institute graduates. She was creative as a child, although her serious artistic career began much later in life. While growing up, Thomas displayed her artistic capabilities, and enjoyed making small pieces of artwork such as puppets, sculptures, and plates, mainly out of clay from the river behind her childhood home. Despite a growing interest in the arts, Thomas was "not allowed" to go into art museums as a child. She was provided with music lessons, as her mother played the violin. Alma Thomas Queen Anne Victorian

In 1907, when Thomas was 16, the family moved to the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C., to escape racial violence in Georgia and to seek the benefits of the

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

system of Washington. Her parents made this move despite that the family "kind of came down a bit," socially and economically, in leaving their upper-middle class life in Georgia. Describing the reason for the family move, she later wrote, "When I finished grade school in Columbus, there was nowhere that I could continue my education, so my parents decided to move the family to Washington." (Cited page numbers refer to the 36 pages of the online folder, rather than numbers on particular pages in the folder.) Other writers have pointed to the Atlanta race riots and racial massacre of 1906 as among the reasons her family left Georgia. As another example of the racial violence that her family faced in Georgia, Alma's father had an encounter with a

lynch mob Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...

shortly before Alma was born, and her family attributed her poor hearing to the fright from that incident. Although still segregated, the nation's capital was known to offer more opportunities for African-Americans than most other cities. As she wrote in the 1970s, "At least Washington's libraries were open to Negroes, whereas Columbus excluded Negroes from its only library." Alma Thomas House Sign

In Washington, Thomas attended Armstrong Technical High School, where she took her first art classes. About them, she said "When I entered the art room, it was like entering heaven. . . . The Armstrong High School laid the foundation for my life." In high school, she excelled at math and science, and architecture specifically interested her. A miniature schoolhouse that she made from cardboard using techniques learned in her architecture studies at Armstrong was exhibited at the Smithsonian in 1912. Although she expressed an interest in becoming an architect, it was unusual for women to work in this profession and this limited her prospects. After graduating from high school in 1911, she studied kindergarten education at Miner Normal School (now known as University of the District of Columbia), earning her teaching credentials in 1913. In 1914, she obtained a teaching position in the Princess Anne schools on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where she taught for four months. In 1915, she started teaching kindergarten at the Thomas Garrett Settlement House in Wilmington, Delaware, staying there until 1921. Thomas entered Howard University in 1921, at age 30, entering as a junior because of her previous teacher training. She started as a home economics student, planning to specialize in costume design, only to switch to fine art after studying under art department founder

James V. Herring James Vernon Herring (January 7, 1887 – May 29, 1969) was an African-American artist and professor of art at Howard University. James V. Herring founded the Howard University Department of Art in 1922. In 1943 along with Alonzo J. Aden he op ...

. Her artistic focus at Howard was on sculpture; the paintings she produced during her college education were described by Romare Bearden and Henry Henderson as "academic and undistinguished." She earned her Bachelors of Science in Fine Arts in 1924 from Howard, becoming the first graduate from the university's fine arts program, and also "possibly the first African-American woman" to earn a bachelor's degree in art—or the first American woman of any racial background, as the artist

Keith Anthony Morrison Keith Anthony Morrison, Commander of Distinction (C.D.), born May 20, 1942),"Resume"
Keith Anthony Morrison. is a

wrote that "it was said

n 1924 N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

that she was the first woman in America ever to gain a bachelor’s degree in art."

Post-college career

In 1924, Thomas began teaching art at

, a Black school in the then-segregated public schools of Washington, D.C., where she worked until her retirement in 1960; she wrote, "I was there for thirty-five years and occupied the same classroom."The number in this sentence is typed as "thirty-eight," but in one of the three copies, the "eight" is corrected by hand to "five." She taught alongside fellow artist

Malkia Roberts Lucille Elizabeth Davis "Malkia" Roberts (1917–2004) was an American painter and educator. Life Born in Washington, D.C., Roberts earned her bachelor's degree from Howard University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Mich ...

. While at Shaw Junior High, she started a community arts program that encouraged student appreciation of fine art. The program supported marionette performances and the distribution of student designed

holiday card A Christmas card is a greeting card sent as part of the traditional celebration of Christmas in order to convey between people a range of sentiments related to Christmastide and the holiday season. Christmas cards are usually exchanged during t ...

s which were given to soldiers at the Tuskegee Veterans Administration Medical Center. Also, according to her reminiscences, "At Shaw, I organized the first art gallery in the D.C. public schools in 1938, securing paintings by outstanding Negro artists from the Howard Gallery of Art." The three and a half decades of Thomas's teaching career, from 1924 to 1960, were described by Thurlow Tibbs, the D.C. African-American art dealer (and grandson of Thomas's friend

Lillian Evans Lillian Evanti (August 12, 1890 – December 6, 1967), was an African American opera singer. Evanti was the first African American to perform with a major European opera company Life She was born in Washington, D.C., and graduated from Armstron ...

, the opera singer) as Thomas's "fermenting period;" during them she absorbed many ideas and influences, and after 1960 from those ideas and influences she would create her own distinctive art. While she taught at Shaw Junior High, Thomas continued to pursue her art, her formal and informal education, and activities with the Washington, D.C. art community, the latter often in ways connected to Howard University. During this time Thomas painted, especially in watercolor; while her style in the 1930s was described as still "quite traditional" and naturalistic, she has been called a "brilliant watercolorist." Over summers, she would travel to New York City to visit art museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and galleries. During the summers of 1930 through 1934, she attended Teachers College of Columbia University, earning her Masters in Art Education in 1934; her studies focused on sculpture, and she wrote her thesis on the use of marionettes. In the summer of 1935, she further studied marionettes in New York City with the German-American puppeteer Tony Sarg, known as the father of modern puppetry in America. In 1936, she founded an organization, called the School Arts League Project, to bring art opportunities to children. In 1943, Thomas helped James W. Herring, her former professor at Howard, and Alonzo J. Aden found the

Barnett-Aden Gallery The Barnett-Aden Gallery was a nonprofit art gallery in Washington D.C. founded by James V. Herring and Alonzo J. Aden, who were associated with Howard University's art department and gallery. The gallery, which opened on October 16, 1943 and o ...

, the first successful Black-owned private art gallery in the United States. She served as the gallery's vice president. Thomas's association with the Barnett-Aden Gallery has been described as "critical to" and, according to curator Adelyn Dohme Breeskin, the "pivotal" development in, her development as a professional artist." It put her into contact with leading contemporary national artists, which "heightened her awareness of art trends and directions," and it provided exposure to local artists which "both challenged and inspired her." In the 1940s Thomas also joined Lois Mailou Jones's artist community, "The Little Paris Group (or "Little Paris Studio," or "Little Paris Studio group"). This group of Black Washington artists was founded by Jones and

Céline Marie Tabary Céline Marie Tabary (29 July 1908 – 23 May 1993) was an artist and arts professor at Howard University who championed African-American art in 1940s Washington, D.C. She emigrated from France in 1938, teaching and working in Washington, D.C. t ...

, both artists and members of the Howard University art faculty (Jones from 1930 to 1977, and Tabary beginning in 1945). The date of the group's founding is described variously as during the German occupation of Paris (i.e., 1940 to 1944), "the late 1940s," 1945, 1946, or 1948. It met either weekly or twice per week, at Jones' studio, the "Little Paris studio," in her home at 1220 Quincy Street NE, in Washington's Brookland neighborhood. It existed for five years. It offered developing artists an opportunity to paint from the model, to improve their techniques -- "developing skills and styles," and "to hone their skills and exchange critiques"—as well as a salon, or discussion forum—to "talk about the latest developments in modern art, particularly as it was centered in Paris." Other members of the group in addition to Jones and Tabary included

Delilah Pierce Delilah Williams Pierce (March 3, 1904 – 1992) was an African American artist, curator and educator based in Washington, District of Columbia. Pierce is best known for abstract paintings depicting the natural world. Her work also includes portra ...

and Thomas, as well as Bruce Brown,

Ruth Brown Ruth Alston Brown (; January 12, 1928 – November 17, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and actress, sometimes referred to as the " Queen of R&B". She was noted for bringing a pop music style to R&B music in a series of hit songs for Atl ...

Richard Dempsey Richard Dempsey is an English actor. Biography Dempsey's first role came at the age of 15, when he appeared as Peter Pevensie in the BBC's adaptation of ''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' in 1988. The following year, he appeared in the a ...

, Barbara Linger, Don Roberts, Desdemona Wade, Frank West, and

Elizabeth Williamson Elizabeth M. Williamson MRPharmS is a former Professor of Pharmacy at the University of Reading, England. Her main research interest is in herbal medicines Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicin ...

. A photo, from Thomas's archives, of a 1948 gathering of the group shows thirteen artists and a male model. In 1958, Thomas visited art centers in Western Europe with Temple University students in an extensive tour arranged by that university's Tyler School of Art. Her involvement with the Little Paris Group is said to have inspired Thomas to seek further academic training at

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

. One source states that in the early 1950s, "the A.U. art department was regarded in many quarters as 'the' avant-garde art department in the nation." Accordingly, in 1950, at the age of 59, she began a decade of studies at that university, taking night and weekend classes, studying Art History and painting. At American University she studied painting with

Robert Franklin Gates Robert Franklin Gates (1906–1982) was an American muralist, painter, printmaker, and art professor. He was a professor at American University, between 1946 until 1975. In the 1930s, Gates was one of hundreds of artists who benefitted from the ...

and Ben "Joe" Summerford. But

Jacob Kainen Jacob Kainen (December 7, 1909 – March 19, 2001) was an American painter and printmaker. He is also known as an art historian, writing books on John Baptist Jackson (US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1962) and the etchings of Can ...

was her most influential teacher there, and would become a close friend for the rest of her lifetime. When Tomas studied with Kainin in fall 1957, he considered her as a fellow artist rather than as a student. Kainen had met Thomas in 1934, at the Barnet-Aden Gallery, and in 1957, he agreed to take over teaching an intensive year-long A.U. class for six selected top painting students, including Thomas, but the administration allowed 32 students, many of them beginners, to take the class and Kainen quit in frustration after one term. When Thomas began her advanced studies at American University in 1950, she was still a figurative painter. During the 1950s her style evolved in several major shifts, from figurative painting to cubism and then to abstract expressionism, with "monumental," dark paintings largely in blue and brown tones, to beginning to embrace the bright colors that she would later use in her signature style.

Artistic career

"''Creative art is for all time and is therefore independent of time. It is of all ages, of every land, and if by this we mean the creative spirit in man which produces a picture or a statue is common to the whole civilized world, independent of age, race and nationality; the statement may stand unchallenged.''"
-Alma Thomas, 1970Patton, 220.

Thomas would not become a full-time, professional artist until she was 68 or 69 years old, in 1960, when she retired from teaching. Within twelve years after her first class at American, she began creating Color Field paintings, inspired by the work of the New York School and

Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...

. Thomas was known to work in her home studio (a small living room), creating her paintings by "propping the canvas on her lap and balancing it against the sofa." She worked out of the kitchen in her house, creating works like ''Watusi (Hard Edge)'' (1963), a manipulation of the

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...

cutout ''The Snail'', in which Thomas shifted shapes around and changed the colors that Matisse used, and named it after a Chubby Checker song. In contrast with most other members of the Washington Color School, she did not use masking tape to outline the shapes in her paintings. Her technique involved drawing faint pencil lines across the canvas to create shapes and patterns, and filling in the canvas with paint afterwards. Her pencil lines are obvious in many of her finished pieces, as Thomas did not erase them. Thomas's post-retirement artwork had a notable focus on color theory. Her work at the time resonated with that of

Vasily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...

(who was interested in the emotional capabilities of color) and of the Washington Color Field Painters, "something that endeared her to critics . . . but also raised questions about her 'blackness' at a time when younger African-American artists were producing works of racial protest." She stated, "The use of color in my paintings is of paramount importance to me. Through color I have sought to concentrate on beauty and happiness in my painting rather than on man's inhumanity to man." Speaking again about her use of color she said: "Color is life, and light is the mother of color." In 1963, she walked in the March on Washington with her friend, the opera singer

. Although Thomas was largely an apolitical artist, she portrayed the 1963 event in a 1964 painting. A detail from that painting became a 2005 U.S. postage stamp commemorating the March on Washington. Her first retrospective exhibit was in 1966 (April 24–May 17) at the Gallery of Art at Howard University, curated by art historian

James A. Porter James Amos Porter (December 22, 1905 – February 28, 1970) was an African-American art historian, artist and teacher. He is best known for establishing the field of African-American art history and was influential in the African American Art ...

. It included 34 works from 1959 to 1966. For this exhibition, she created ''Earth Paintings'', a series of nature-inspired abstract works, including ''Resurrection'' (1966), which in 2014 would be bought for the White House collection. Thomas and the artist

, a friend, would drive into the countryside where Thomas would seek inspiration, pulling ideas from the effects of light and atmosphere on rural environments. To meet the challenge posed by the Howard show, according to Romare Bearden and Henry Henderson, her style changed again, in a crucial way: "Thomas evolved the specific style now recognized as her signature - playing color against color and over color with small, irregular rectangular shapes of dense, often intense color." This exhibition received a supportive review from Helen Hoffman in The Washington Post of May 4, 1966, titled "colorful abstract reflects her spirit". Inspired by the moon landing in 1969, Alma Thomas began her second major theme of paintings. The series ''Space, Snoopy'' and ''Earth'' were applying pointillism. She evoked mood by dramatic contrast of color with mosaic style, using dark blue against pale pink and orange colors, depicting an abstraction and accidental beauty through the use of color. Most of the works in these series have circular, horizontal and vertical patterns. These patterns are able to generate a conceptual feeling of floating. The patterns also generate energy within the canvas. The contrast of colors creates a powerful color segregation, and maintain visual energy. In 1972, at the age of 81, Thomas was the first African-American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and later the same year a much larger exhibition was also held at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Thomas denied labels placed upon her as an artist and would not accept any barriers inhibiting her creative process and art career, including her identity as a black woman. She believed that the most important thing was for her to continue to create her visions through her own artwork and work in the art world despite racial segregation. Despite this, Thomas was still discriminated against as a black female artist and was critiqued for her abstract style as opposed to other Black Americans who worked with figuration and symbolism to fight oppression. Her works were featured alongside many other African-American artists in galleries and shows, such as the first Black-owned gallery in the District of Columbia. After her show at the Whitney, Thomas's fame within the fine arts community immediately skyrocketed. Her newfound recognition was due in part to Robert Doty's vocal support of her, as he organized Thomas's Whitney show as part of a series of African-American artist exhibitions, intended to protest their lack of representation. New York critics were impressed with Thomas's modern style, especially given the fact that she was a nearly 80-year-old woman at the time of her national debut. The New York Times reviewed her exhibit four times, calling her paintings "expert abstractions, tachiste in style, faultless in their handling of color." Many white critics complimented her as “the Signac of current color painters” and as “gifted, ebullient abstractionist”. Alma Thomas's philosophy of her own art is that her works are full of energy, and those energies cannot be destroyed or created. New York art curator and editor

Thomas B. Hess Thomas B. Hess (1920, Rye, New York – July 13, 1978) was an American art editor and curator, perhaps best known for his over twenty years at the helm of ARTnews and his championing, mounting exhibitions of the works of, and writing on the arti ...

bought Thomas's 1972 painting ''Red Roses Sonata'', and in 1976 his family's foundation gave the piece to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Joshua Taylor, director from 1970 to 1981 of the National Collection of Fine Arts (now the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

), also purchased some of her work, and wrote to Thomas in 1975, thanking her for a painting that hung in his living room: "It's like having Spring well before its appointed date." Mary Beth Edelson's ''Some Living American Women Artists / Last Supper'' (1972) appropriated Leonardo da Vinci’s ''The Last Supper'', with the heads of notable women artists collaged over the heads of Christ and his apostles; Alma Thomas was among those notable women artists. This image, addressing the role of religious and art historical iconography in the subordination of women, became "one of the most iconic images of the feminist art movement."

Personal life

Thomas was, according to all evidence, never married. She told the ''New York Times'' in 1977 that she had "never married a man but my art. What man would have ever appreciated what I was up to?" She wrote, "Once upon a time it was said, don't die having a "

Miss Miss (pronounced ) is an English language honorific typically used for a girl, for an unmarried woman (when not using another title such as "Doctor" or "Dame"), or for a married woman retaining her maiden name. Originating in the 17th century, it ...

" on your tombstone. I feel very proud of having maintain dmy Miss. I say that Miss stand for all the Jackasses I missed in life." She added, "A fine man is a delight, but for God sake don't get entangled with a Jackass." She had an active social life, with many artist friends. She reportedly "rarely missed" a museum or gallery opening in Washington. Thomas lived in the same family house in Washington, at 1530 15th Street, NW, for nearly her entire life, from 1907 when her family moved from Georgia so she could attend high school until her death in 1978 (aside from a few years in her 20s when she worked elsewhere). Her younger sister John Maurice Thomas, who was named for their father and had a career as a librarian at Howard University, shared the house with her.) That home, now known as the

Alma Thomas House The Alma Thomas House is an historic house, located at 1530 15th Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C., N.W., in the Logan Circle, Washington, D.C., Logan Circle neighborhood. History Built in 1875, by Thomas G. Allen, the Italianate architecture, ...

, was built in about 1875 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Death and archives

Alma Thomas died on February 24, 1978, in Howard University Hospital, following aortal surgery. Thomas' papers were donated in several periods between 1979 and 2004 to the Archives of American Art by J. Maurice Thomas, Alma Thomas' sister.

Artistic style

Alma Thomas' early work was representational in manner. As a black woman, she focused her work on creative spirit rather than race or gender. Thomas believed that creativity should be independent of gender or race, creating works with a focus on accidental beauty and the abstraction of color. After further education at American University and influenced by James V. Herring and Lois Mailou Jones, her work became more abstract. Toward the end of her life, her style moved "to a color-filled, impastoed geometric abstraction of tessellated brushstroke patterns." These paintings have been compared to Byzantine mosaics and the

pointillist Pointillism (, ) is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term "Pointillism" wa ...

paintings of

Georges-Pierre Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , , ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough surf ...

. Thomas' style has qualities similar to West African paintings as well as Byzantine mosaics. Her watercolor and oil paintings incorporated the use of (sometimes overlapping) colorful rectangles. She continued to use this technique, in works which explored colors found in trees, flowers, gardens, and other natural imagery. Her painting ''Evening Glow'' was inspired in part by Thomas's interest in the colors of natural world: "The holly tree outside her living room intrigued Thomas with designs formed by its leaves against the window panes, and with patterns of light and shade cast on the floor and walls inside her home." She called her paintings 'Alma's Stripes,' as the overlapping shapes of paint created elongated rectangles. Later works were inspired by space exploration and the cosmos. The title of her 1972 painting, 'Mars Dust,' alluded to news stories of a dust storm on Mars..

Later reactions, exhibits, and developments

Art historian Richard J. Powell wrote in 1997 about the position of Thomas and Sam Gilliam as the two best known African-American members of the Washington Color School, "While conversant with the works of fellow Washington Color School artists ( Gene Davis, Morris Louis, and Kenneth Noland), they also addressed, through rhythmic and high key color abstract painting techniques, the social aspirations of Washington D.C.'s African American middle class." He continued by noting that in the 1960s Thomas "turned her back" on her earlier representational style "that would have been seen by D.C.'s arts community as ideologically conservative," in favor of "an abstract style inspired by horticulture, scientific color theory, and music." Powell described Thomas's 1976 ''Azeleas Singing and Dancing Rock and Roll Music'' as "skillfully negotiating the slippery pathways between nature and society," and "epitomize ngthe integrationist mood of the times." The Washington Post described her as "a force in the

". Writing in 1998, art historian

Sharon Patton Sharon F. Patton (born 1944) is an American historian who specializes in African art. Early life and education She was born in southern part of Chicago in 1944, where she received her bachelor's degree in 1966 from Roosevelt University. Patton at ...

described Thomas's 1973 ''Wind and Crepe Myrtle Concerto'' as "one of the most Minimalist Color-Field paintings ever produced by an African-American artist." Although Thomas did not receive a monograph until 1998 when the Fort Wayne Museum exhibited a retrospective on the artist, the lateness of in-depth scholarly attention is not representative of her legacy and influence on the realm of Visual Arts.

, her teacher at American University in autumn 1957, asserts that "Thomas played a key role in the development of abstract painting throughout the mid 20th century." Kainen wrote in the catalog of the Fort Wayne show that he met Thomas in 1943, at an event at the

. Kainen remembers her at that time as "a small, slim woman whose elegance of dress and manner and unmistakable firmness of character made the matter of her size irrelevant." In the program of the 1966 Howard University Art Gallery's show "Alma W. Thomas: A Retrospective Exhibition, 1959-1966," Kainen is quoted as describing her as "the Signac of current color painters." In 2009, two paintings by Thomas, including ''Watusi (Hard Edge)'', were chosen by First Lady Michelle Obama, White House interior designer

Michael S. Smith (interior designer) Michael Sean Smith (born 1963) is an American interior designer based in Los Angeles. Smith was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House from 2008-2016 and is responsible for the 2010 makeover of ...

, and White House curator William Allman to be exhibited in the White House during the

Obama presidency Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican n ...

. ''Watusi (Hard Edge)'' was eventually removed from the White House due to concerns about the piece fitting into the space in Michelle Obama's East Wing office. ''Sky Light'', on loan from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, hung in the Obama family private quarters. In 2015, another of her paintings, ''Resurrection'' (1966), was prominently hung in the Old Family Dining Room of the White House, having been acquired for the White House collection in 2014 with $290,000 in funding from the

White House Historical Association The White House Historical Association, founded in 1961 through efforts of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, is a private, non-profit organization that works to preserve the history of the White House and make that history more accessible to the pub ...

. It was "the first artwork by an African-American woman to hang in the public spaces of the White House and enter the permanent collection." The choice of Thomas for the White House collection was described as an ideal symbol for the Obama administration by '' The New York Times''

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

Holland Cotter. Cotter described Thomas' work as "forward-looking without being radical; post-racial but also race-conscious." In 2016, the exhibition ''Alma Thomas'', described in promotional materials as "the first comprehensive look at the artist’s work in nearly twenty years," and as presenting "a wide range of evolution of Thomas's work from the late 1950s to her death in 1978," was organized by The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College and

The Studio Museum in Harlem The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American art museum devoted to the work of artists of African descent. The museum's galleries are currently closed in preparation for a building project that will replace the current building, located at 144 W ...

. This exhibition was curated by Ian Berry, Dayton Director of the Tang Museum and

Lauren Haynes Lauren Haynes is an American curator who is senior curator of contemporary art at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Previously, she was director of artist initiatives and curator of contemporary art at the Crystal Bridges Museum of Amer ...

, Associate Curator, Permanent Collection at the

Studio Museum in Harlem The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American art museum devoted to the work of artists of African descent. The museum's galleries are currently closed in preparation for a building project that will replace the current building, located at 144 W ...

and supported by the Friends of the Tang. The exhibit's promotional material noted that "Thomas's patterned compositions, energetic brushwork and commitment to color created a singular and innovative body of work." They also noted that it "includes rarely exhibited watercolors and early experiments." This exhibition was divided into four sections: Move to Abstraction; Earth, Space, and Late Work. '' The Wall Street Journal'' described her in 2016 as a previously "underappreciated artist" who is more recently recognized for her "exuberant" works, noteworthy for their pattern, rhythm and color. In 2019, Thomas's 1970 painting ''A Fantastic Sunset'' was auctioned at a

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

sale. It sold for $2.655 million. In 2021, a new record price was set for Thomas's work when ''Alma's Flower Garden'', painted in approximately 1968 to 1970, was deaccessioned by the

Greenville County Museum of Art The Greenville County Museum of Art (GCMA) is an art museum located in Greenville, South Carolina. Its collections focus mainly on American art, and its holdings include works by Andrew Wyeth, Josef Albers, Jasper Johns (raised in South Carolina), ...

, which sold it in a private sale to an unidentified purchaser for $2.8 million. The museum had bought the painting in 2008 for $135,000. An exhibition of her art entitled "Alma W. Thomas: Everything is Beautiful," co-organized by the

Chrysler Museum of Art The Chrysler Museum of Art is an art museum on the border between downtown and the Ghent district of Norfolk, Virginia. The museum was founded in 1933 as the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences. In 1971, automotive heir, Walter P. Chrysler Jr. ...

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

and the

Columbus Museum The Columbus Museum in Columbus, Georgia was founded in 1953. It contains many artifacts on both American art and regional history, displayed in both its permanent collection as well as temporary exhibitions.Columbus, Georgia, opened on July 9, 2021, at the Chrysler Museum. It is scheduled to run there to October 3, 2021, following which it will run at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., in fall 2021, the

Frist Art Museum The Frist Art Museum, formerly known as the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, is an art exhibition hall in Nashville, Tennessee, housed in the city's historic United States Postal Service, U.S. Post Office building, which is listed on the National ...

in Nashville in spring 2022, and the Columbus Museum in summer 2022. In collaboration with the exhibition, a short documentary, "Miss Alma Thomas: A Life in Color" was commissioned. The film, directed by

Cheri Gaulke Cheri Gaulke (born 1954) is a visual artist most known for her role in the Feminist Art Movement in southern California in the 1970s and her work on gay and lesbian families. Biography Gaulke holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Minneapolis ...

, and produced by

Jon Gann Jon is a shortened form of the common given name Jonathan, derived from "YHWH has given", and an alternate spelling of John, derived from "YHWH has pardoned". * ''Alma Thomas: A Retrospective Exhibition (1959-1966)'', 1966, Howard University Gallery of Art * ''Alma Thomas: Recent Paintings'', 1968, Franz Bader Gallery * ''Recent Paintings by Alma W. Thomas: Earth and Space Series (1961–1971)'', 1971, Carl Van Vechten Gallery,

Fisk University Fisk University is a private historically black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1930, Fisk was the first Africa ...

* ''Alma W. Thomas'', 1972, Whitney Museum of American Art * ''Alma W. Thomas: Retrospective Exhibition'', 1972, Corcoran Gallery of Art * ''Alma W. Thomas: Paintings'', 1973,

Martha Jackson Gallery Martha Jackson (; January 17, 1907 – July 4, 1969) was an American art dealer, gallery owner, and collector. Her New York City based Martha Jackson Gallery, founded in 1953, was groundbreaking in its representation of women and internatio ...

* ''Alma W. Thomas: Recent Paintings'', 1975, Howard University Gallery of Art * ''Alma W. Thomas: Recent Paintings'', 1976, H.C. Taylor Art Gallery, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University * ''A Life in Art: Alma Thomas, 1891-1978'', 1981, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution * ''Alma W. Thomas: A Retrospective of the Paintings'', 1998, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Tampa Museum of Art, New Jersey State Museum, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution, and The Columbus Museum * ''Alma Thomas: Phantasmagoria, Major Paintings from the 1970s'', 2001, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, and Women's Museum: An Institution for the Future * ''A Proud Continuum: Eight Decades of Art at Howard University'', 2005, Howard University * ''Color Balance: Paintings by Felrath Hines and Alma Thomas'', 2010, Nasher Museum of Art * ''Alma Thomas'', 2016, The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, and

* ''Alma Thomas: Resurrection Exhibition'', 2019, Mnuchin Gallery * ''Alma W. Thomas: Everything is Beautiful'', 2021, Chrysler Museum of Art

Notable works in public collections

* ''Watusi (Hard Edge)'' (1963), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. *''Air View of a Spring Nursery'' (1966),

Columbus Museum The Columbus Museum in Columbus, Georgia was founded in 1953. It contains many artifacts on both American art and regional history, displayed in both its permanent collection as well as temporary exhibitions.Georgia *''Breeze Rustling Through Fall Flowers'' (1968), Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. *''Nature's Red Impressions'' (1968), Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, George Washington University, Washington, D.C. * ''Resurrection'' (1968),

, Washington, D.C. * ''Wind, Sunshine and Flowers'' (1968),

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

*''Iris, Tulips, Jonquils and Crocuses'' (1969),

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...

, Washington, D.C. * ''Pansies in Washington'' (1969),

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

, Washington, D.C. * ''Lunar Surface'' (1970), American University Museum, Washington, D.C. * ''Snoopy Early Sun Display'' (1970),

, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. *''Earth Sermon - Beauty, Love and Peace'' (1971), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. *''Evening Glow'' (1972), Baltimore Museum of Art *''Mars Dust'' (1972), Whitney Museum, New York * ''Red Atmosphere'' (1972), Tougaloo College, Jackson, Mississippi * ''Red Roses Sonata'' (1972), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York * ''Starry Night and the Astronauts'' (1972),

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

*''Fiery Sunset'' (1973), Museum of Modern Art, New York * ''Spring Embraces Yellow'' (1973),

University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art The University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art is a visual arts institution that is part of the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Since its inception, the museum has partnere ...

Iowa City Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

* ''Wind and Crêpe Myrtle Concerto'' (1973), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. * ''Wind Sparkling Dew and Green Grass'' (1973),

Fort Wayne Museum of Art The Fort Wayne Museum of Art (FWMoA) is an American art museum located in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana, Allen County, United States. The Fort Wayne Museum of Art contains permanent collections and national traveling exhibitions and is accredite ...

, Indiana *''Hydrangeas Spring Song'' (1976),

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

*''Red Azaleas Singing and Dancing Rock and Roll Music'' (1976), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. * ''White Roses Sing and Sing'' (1976), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. * ''Untitled: Music Series'' (1978), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Memorials

Alma Thomas Teen Space at the

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library (MLKML) is the central facility of the District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL). Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed the 400,000 square foot (37,000 m2) steel, brick, and glass structure, and it is a r ...

was named after her.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Patton, Sharon F. ''African-American Art.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press (1998). * "Alma Thomas papers, 1894-2000".
Finding Aid.
' Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

External links

Alma Thomas's work at the SmithsonianAlma Thomas, Skidmore University
at the

Swann Galleries, "Alma Thomas’s Journey to Abstraction" (Sep. 27, 2017) - five examples of paintings showing the evolution of her abstract style from the 1950s to the 1970s"Miss Alma Thomas: A Life in Color" short documentary (2021)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Alma 1891 births 1978 deaths Abstract expressionist artists People from Columbus, Georgia Artists from Washington, D.C. Howard University alumni Teachers College, Columbia University alumni Artists from Georgia (U.S. state) 20th-century American women artists American women painters African-American painters African-American women artists 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American artists