Alma Thomas

Alma Thomas, Apollo 12 “Splash Down”, 1970, acrylic and graphite on canvas, 50 ¼ x 50 ¼ inches, courtesy Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York

Installation view, Alma Thomas, Tang Teaching Museum, 2016

Alma Thomas, Cherry Blossom Symphony, 1973, acrylic on canvas, 69 x 54 inches, collection of halley k harrisburg and Michael Rosenfeld, New York

Installation view, Alma Thomas, Tang Teaching Museum, 2016

Alma Thomas, Scarlet Sage Dancing a Whirling Dervish, 1976, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 52 inches, courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York

Installation view, Alma Thomas, Tang Teaching Museum, 2016

Alma Thomas, Stars and Their Display, 1972, acrylic on canvas, 22 x 27 inches, courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York

Installation view, Alma Thomas, Tang Teaching Museum, 2016

Alma Thomas, Iris, Tulips, Jonquils, and Crocuses, 1969, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 50 inches, courtesy of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay

Installation view, Alma Thomas, Tang Teaching Museum, 2016

Through color, I have sought to concentrate on beauty and happiness, rather than on man’s inhumanity to man.
— Alma Thomas, 1970

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) is best known for her signature colorful abstract paintings. Thomas’s patterned compositions, energetic brushwork and commitment to color created a singular and innovative body of work. This exhibition is the first comprehensive look at the artist’s work in nearly twenty years and includes rarely exhibited watercolors and early experiments.

Divided into four sections: Move to Abstraction; Earth; Space; and Late Work, this exhibition presents a wide-ranging look at Thomas’s evolving practice from the late 1950s to her death in 1978. Thomas’s artworks are inspired by a range of subject matter from the civil rights movement to the United States Space program to the daily experience of her Washington D.C. garden. Almost four decades after her death, Thomas’s work continues to influence generations of artists and resonate with myriad audiences.

Born in 1891 in Columbus, Georgia, Thomas actively participated in the art world throughout her life. Her family moved to Washington D.C. in 1907 due to growing racial tensions.

In 1924, Thomas was the first person to graduate from Howard University with a degree in Fine Arts. She then earned a Master’s in Arts Education from Columbia University Teachers College in 1934, and between 1950 and 1960 pursued an MFA in Painting from American University. An art teacher for most of her life, Thomas’s most prolific period as an artist occurred after her retirement from Shaw Junior High School in 1960. Thomas made work alongside the Washington Color School, a loose grouping of abstract color field painters based in Washington D.C., which included Kenneth Noland, Morris Louis and Sam Gilliam, among others. In 1972, at age eighty, Thomas achieved a historic first when she became the first African-American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. In 1998, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art organized her first full career retrospective. In 2014, her painting Resurrection (1966) was the first work by an African-American woman to enter the White House Collection.

Alma Thomas is organized by The Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College and The Studio Museum in Harlem. This exhibition is curated by Ian Berry, Dayton Director of the Tang Museum and Lauren Haynes, Associate Curator, Permanent Collection at the Studio Museum and is supported by the Friends of the Tang.

The show will travel to the Studio Museum in Summer 2016. A major catalogue will accompany the exhibition with extensive images and new essays on Thomas’s important work and influential legacy.

Exhibition Name

Alma Thomas

Exhibition Type

Solo Exhibitions

Place

Wachenheim Gallery

Dates

Feb 6, 2016 - Jun 5, 2016

Curators

Alma Thomas is curated by Ian Berry, Dayton Director of the Tang Museum and Lauren Haynes, Associate Curator, Permanent Collection at the Studio Museum, New York.