Institution

Established in 1927 by an Act of Congress, The U.S National Arboretum is a specialized botanical garden featuring trees and plants both native to Washington D.C and from a variety of global environments. Located in Northeast Washington, D.C., the Arboretum is 446 acres in size with nearly 10 miles of winding roadways. The Garden allows us all to see and admire the beauty of nature in a more controlled environment with a focus on research and education.Thomas’s painting “Arboretum Presents White Dogwood” is an abstract painting with a rhythmic application of rectangles. The rectangles are laid over a dark background in a repetitive geometric form. The painting shares similar composition with some of her most famous pieces. Thomas stated that she visited the Arboretum “not to paint but to get impressions. A friend of mine goes there and gets every leaf.” She wanted her paintings to evoke the feeling of being at the Arboretum surrounded by the plants that shape the landscape.Thomas uses color as form, helping her to construct impressions of nature. Here, and in many of her paintings, she shows us how she views and experiences flora. Through her abstractions, the viewer is able to see the process Thomas used to translate her experience of nature to the canvas.

Photograph of Alma Thomas at the Arboretum, 1970

Back of photograph of Alma Thomas at the Arboretum

Website

The U.S. National Arboretum served as inspiration for Alma Thomas's work, including "Arboretum Presents White Dogwood," 1972. The Dogwood Collection at the Arboretum slopes downward, leading to the Anacostia River. Mature dogwoods bloom throughout the spring and summer months beginning in March. Thomas spoke of both the Arboretum's dogwoods and azaleas in particular as influences on her work.

U.S. National Arboretum

The Alma Thomas DC Heritage Tour will introduce participants to sites around Washington, DC that are significant to the life and work of local artist and educator, Alma Woodsey Thomas. Thomas was born September 22nd, 1891, in Columbus, Georgia. In 1907, Thomas’ family packed up and moved to Washington, D.C. to escape the overwhelming racial violence happening in the South, settling in the Logan Circle neighborhood. After replanting her roots in D.C., Thomas dedicated her life to enriching the local community with her service as a teacher and artist. Thomas’ artwork, inspired by local D.C. sites and flora, has come has come to be regarded as some of the most significant work to come out of the Washington Color School movement. On this tour, you'll be able to visit sites that inspired Thomas' work, places significant to her personal history, and locations where you can view her work today.

In 1907, when Thomas was 16, her parents purchased this home upon relocating the family to Washington DC from her hometown of Columbus, GA. It is in this very home that Thomas created her signature “dab patterned” abstract paintings; specifically in her kitchen, which she expanded in the 1950's in order to make more room for her personal in home art studio. Towards her front living room there was a holly tree that could be seen through her bay windows, and a few myrtle trees which inspired the acrylic on canvas work "Wind and Crepe Myrtle Concerto" could be spotted in the back yard.<blockquote>"The holly tree! looked at the tree in the window, and that became my inspiration. There are six patterns in there right now that I can see. And every morning since then, the wind has given me new colors through the windowpanes.” </blockquote><blockquote>- Alma Thomas</blockquote>Thomas lived in this home until the day she passed and it stayed in the Thomas family until the passing of her sister in the mid 2000’s. Although it was recently put up for sale again, this home still serves as a landmark on Washington's African American Heritage Trail.

Built in 1875, this beautiful red brick home nestled in Logan Circle is where Alma Thomas resided for well over 70 years. Thomas drew inspiration from the natural beauty surrounding her home including a variety of different flowers and trees. One work, "White Roses Sing and Sing" shown below, is said to be influenced by roses grown in her backyard and azalea blooms at the National Arboretum.

The Alma Thomas Home

Thomas began teaching art at Shaw Junior High School, the first Black junior high school located in the heart of the Shaw neighborhood, in 1924. She spent over three decades there, developing a curriculum and programs that centered Black history in art and culture. The original building was closed after Shaw Junior High School was moved to a new location in 1977. The site is now Asbury Dwellings, a senior living community.During her 38 years of teaching, Thomas organized school activities in celebration of Negro History Week, a precursor to Black History Month, which was established by the Carter Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1925. Thomas prompted students to create and study art first hand, and inviting guest speakers, artists, and architects, many from Howard University, to speak with the students. She displayed student artwork in the school's hallways, classrooms, and gallery. In 1938, Thomas organized the first art gallery in DC public schools, securing "outstanding Negro artists from the Howard University Gallery of Art" (Alma Thomas papers). Thomas directed performances, including puppet shows with marionettes made by her students. The Archives of American Art has a digitized version of Thomas' scrapbook of Negro History Week celebrations from 1930-1940.

Alma Thomas taught art at Shaw Junior High School for 38 years. As an art teacher, she emphasized the works of Black artists, frequently inviting guests to meet and speak with her students. She dedicated time to cultivating talent and showcasing the works of her students in celebration of Negro History Week every year in February.

Shaw Junior High School

After graduating high school, Thomas enrolled in the Miner Teachers Normal School (located at 2565 Georgia Ave NW), where she trained to become a kindergarten teacher. After teaching in Delaware for six years, Thomas returned to Howard University to study art. In 1924, she became the first graduate of the new Art Department. She studied under Professor James V. Herring, who was the only instructor in the Art Department for several years, and founded the Barnett-Aden Gallery, the first Black-owned private art gallery in the US. The Barnett-Aden Gallery (located at 127 Randolph Place, NW) often featured Thomas' works. When Thomas taught at Shaw Middle School (at the time located at 1620 7th Street, NW), she often brought visiting artists and professors from Howard University to speak with her students. She maintained relationships with artists and members of the Howard University art faculty through her work with the Barnett-Aden Gallery and the Little Paris Studio Group (located at 1220 Quincy Street, NW).Though Howard University offered to exhibit her work in a retrospective series in 1966, Thomas chose to develop and debut her abstract work instead. She was 75 years old when her late-career watercolor paintings with bold colors and shapes were put on display. As her former professor James V. Herring put it, "Her retirement has been not from, but into art" (Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives).

Alma Thomas studied art at Howard University under the tutelage of Professor James V. Herring. She was a graduate of the University's new Fine Arts program. Prior to pursuing her degree, she also attended the Miner Teachers Normal School, where she trained to teach kindergarten. Numerous works were displayed at Howard University's Gallery of Art in the 1966 exhibit, "Alma W. Thomas: A Retrospective Exhibition, 1959-1966."

Alma Thomas at Howard University

Alma Thomas was a part of the "Little Paris Group," a group of Black artists that met to practice and showcase their work, founded by Lois Mailou Jones and Céline Tabary in 1948. Jones taught art for seven years at Howard University, and went to Paris via a fellowship to the Académie Julien. In Paris, Jones escaped the racial discrimination she experienced in the US, freely exploring Impressionism and modernist styles, and gaining acclaim in the art scene. There, Jones met Tabary, a fellow artist that became a lifelong friend. During the Paris Occupation, when the two were were unable to return to France, Jones helped Tabary get a teaching position at Howard University. Jones converted the attic of her home into a studio to host a Parisian-style salon, nostalgically named the "Little Paris Studio." Thomas and Jones were in the same social circles, and Jones used the Group to encourage and promote the work of public school art teachers. The "Little Paris Group" was a unique space for Black artists to showcase their work.

Founded in 1948 by Lois Mailou Jones and Céline Tabary, the Little Paris Studio Group was a cohort of prominent Black artists, including Alma Thomas, in Washington, DC. The Group met every week to create and critique artwork. As large galleries refused works by Black artists, the Group served as a way to encourage and promote their works, especially those by public school art teachers.

Lois Mailou Jones House, Little Paris Group

Thomas painted her famous work "Aquatic Gardens", 1973 based on the prolific lily pads at the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens. Many of Thomas's works, including this one, challenge us to experience the different ways light falls on leaves and flowers. Just has her other paintings were inspired by her local surroundings -- the leaves that rustled on the trees outside the front window of her home, the graphic patterns in the flower beds at the National Arboretum, the city's renowned cherry blossoms -- this one represents the natural beauty that can be found in the heart of the city. Thomas's painting makes the canvas an important part of the picture, using the size to convey the vastness of what she is painting: the many sprawling ponds of the Aquatic Gardens filled to the brim with lily pads. In addition, Thomas creates a dreamy atmosphere that encourages the viewer to imagine being there next to her, experiencing the garden in real time.

The Aquatic Gardens served as another point of interest and inspiration for Alma Thomas. The Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens is a unique and beautiful habitat that features ponds filled with water lilies and lotus, surrounded by tidal marshes. It is a place to experience, celebrate, and connect to nature in Washington, D.C.

Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens

Thomas painted abstract works, often inspired by nature, in her signature style of bold, short strokes of color atop layered backgrounds, a style she called "Alma's Stripes." These works, often referred to as her "Earth" paintings, were inspired by local gardens and foliage. Thomas said of her Earth paintings in an autobiographical writing circa the 1970s:<blockquote>"My earth paintings are inspired by the display of azaleas at the Arboretum, the cherry blossoms, circular flower beds, the nurseries as seen from planes that are airborne, and by the foliage of trees in the Fall."</blockquote>Of inspiration provided by spring foliage in particular, Thomas wrote:<blockquote>"Spring delivers her dynamic sermon to the world each year, drenching one's thoughts with its magnificent outburst of light hues of colors to darker ones as the weather grows warmer."</blockquote>And, indeed, Thomas did paint three works inspired by and titled after DC's famous springtime blooms -- "Cherry Blossom Symphony," "Double Cherry Blossoms," and "Early Cherry Blossoms," all completed in 1973. These paintings, in her signature "Alma's Stripes" style, consist of strokes of bright pink color with subtle variations on contrasting backgrounds. It's easy to see their connection to the bold but subtle blooms of the city's cherry trees in March and April.While several locations across Washington, DC are home to cherry trees, none are so famous as those at the Tidal Basin and East Potomac Park. In fact, included in Thomas's personal papers from the 1950s and 60s, is a postcard of the Jefferson Memorial and cherry trees at the Tidal Basin during peak bloom. Many of the trees at the Tidal Basin were part of a gift of 3,020 cherry trees from the City of Tokyo to the United States in 1912. The large majority of these were of the Yoshino and Kwanzan varieties, and were planted along the Tidal Basin, near the Washington Monument, and throughout East Potomac Park. The gift also included ten other varieties of cherry trees, including 20 Gyoikos, all of which were planted on the White House grounds. Soon after the arrival of the trees in DC, First Lady Helen Herron Taft and Viscountess Chinda, the wife of Japanese ambassador Chinda, held a small ceremony wherein they each planted one cherry tree on the northern bank of the Tidal Basin. This gesture eventually inspired the first local Cherry Blossom Festival in 1935, which became an annual event. Today, the National Cherry Blossom Festival occurs each spring as a month-long celebration of nature, art, and culture around peak bloom time, which falls in March or April.

You'll notice a recurring theme throughout the Alma Thomas tour: much of Thomas's work was inspired by nature, and more specifically, by the trees and gardens she saw around her every day. In 1973, Thomas created at least three paintings inspired by and titled after what is arguably DC's most famous foliage -- the cherry blossom. Though these beautiful pink and white blooms can be found at various sites throughout the city each spring, the Tidal Basin is home to the largest number of cherry trees in DC, as well as the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.

Alma Thomas & the Cherry Blossoms

Accompanied by her friend Lillian Evans, an opera singer known as Madame Evanti, Thomas met members of St. Luke’s Episcopal and St. Stephen and The Incarnation Churches at the intersection of 16th and Church Streets to start their march towards the Washington Monument. According to Thomas' sister, both ladies, well into their 70's, locked arms and marched down 16th street with historical figures, high profile celebrities, and everyday people to take a stand against racial and socioeconomic injustices happening to Black Americans on a daily basis.Based on things that Thomas witnessed during the march, Thomas was inspired to temporarily switch her style to representational paintings and created the works "March on Washington" and "Freedom March." Swann Auction Galleries describes the piece "March on Washington" as an "incorporation of her bright palette of primary colors with a flattened, abstracted view of the crowds and their placards". In 2005, the United States Post Office selected Thomas’ "March on Washington" oil painting on canvas as one the works in the stamp collection "To Form a More Perfect Union: Seeking Equal Rights for African Americans".There is little information published about the work "Freedom March". However we do know that this piece was displayed in Atlanta University’s Art Gallery in the Trevor Arnett Library art show in 1964.

In August of 1963 Alma Thomas participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The purpose of this march was to demonstrate an act of civil protest against racial inequality and champion the restoration of civil rights for people of color, namely African Americans, in the United States. Thomas captured the experience in the form of two oil paintings in 1964.

Alma Thomas and the March on Washington

In 2019, the DowntownDC BID group unveiled public art made out of what had previously been eight emergency call boxes in downtown D.C. The art installations used the no-longer-functioning boxes to profile the contributions of eight prominent women in history. The project was funded by a grant from the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities and features original art by local artist and architect Charles Bergen. Alma Thomas's was selected as one of the eight women to be featured.Ms. Thomas lived a fascinating life. At 15 years old in 1907 she and her family moved from Columbus, Georgia to Washington, D.C. as part of The Great Migration, when Black families left the South to escape racial violence and oppression. While D.C. was segregated at the time, it offered an array of jobs, excellent public schools, and Howard University.Thomas took advantage of these new opportunities. She took classes at Armstrong Manual Training High School, attended Miner Teachers College, and became Howard University’s first fine arts graduate in 1924. That same year she began a nearly three-decade-long career teaching art at Shaw Junior High School. In the 1930s, she helped found the Barnett-Aden Gallery, where Black artists could showcase and display their work. However, it was not until she retired from teaching in 1960 that she was able to truly focus on her painting, and developed the abstract style that she became known for. Her first abstract show took place at Howard University in 1966, when she was 75 years old. Six years later, she was given a retrospective at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and also became the first Black woman to hold a solo show at the Whitney Museum in New York City.Many of these accomplishments are symbolized by the words and phrases that adorn the base of the callbox artwork, and are detailed in the informational plaque affixed to the back. The top of the call box is crowned by a bronze relief portrait of Thomas on one side and an image of one of her paintings on the other.

The DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID) Callboxes highlight some of the women in history that changed the city of Washington DC. This particular call box celebrates Alma Thomas, who lived, worked, and studied in the city over the course of her life and career as an artist. Thomas's call box is near a bustling and easily accessible intersection in the heart of downtown, 13th and G St. NW. The base of the box is stenciled with highlights of Thomas’s life and a small plaque affixed to the box provides a detailed biography.

Alma Thomas Call Box 

Like many Americans, Thomas was enraptured when astronauts first stepped foot on the surface of the Moon on July 20, 1969, so much so that it became one of the driving inspirations behind her work, particularly in the early 1970's. Her painting Blast Off, from 1970, features colored stripes of red, yellow, and orange coming to a point with a single dab of gray to represent a rocket ship in liftoff. The colored blocks placed on top of each other, forming a triangle, are reminiscent of the Egyptian pyramids, another of humanity's greatest triumphs. The blue and brown earth tones with dashes of pink on either side of the blast symbolize the natural world the rocket is leaving behind; oceans, mountains, and plains whose majesty will soon be dwarfed by the approaching vastness of space. Thomas repeats a similar color scheme in Launch Pad, a representation of the vast launch complex facility in Cape Canaveral, FL.Thomas's early paintings were often done in a realistic style. Thomas herself admitted that was not her personal preference, as she did not want to depict the inhumanities and injustices of the world around her through realistic art. As such, she quickly pivoted to the abstract style for which she is now known. This allowed Thomas to create beautiful, symbolic works of art that captured the polarized achievement of the Moon landing, where African Americans and women were excluded, despite their contributions, against an imagined world of Thomas's own vision--a world on Earth and in the farthest reaches of outer space that welcomed and recognized everyone's gifts, and where all colors were equal. As art historian Cynthia Hodge-Thorne notes in The Politics of Space: Alma Thomas and Race Relations in the 1960s America, Thomas "depicted new worlds with limitless opportunities" through her abstract creations. Perhaps this is most evident in her painting Astronauts' Glimpse of the Earth from 1974, an imagined view of our planet from space done in various shades of blue, with specks of green, red, pink, and orange throughout to represent light, life, and an ideal multiracial society working together as one.Thomas's work has been interpreted as a call to live and work in peace within a beautiful, harmonious world of color. The Air and Space Museum includes her paintings in their collection not only for their historical value and artistic subject matter, but as a reminder that the work of spaceflight is a human endeavor for the betterment of a world shared by all. Two of her most prominent space-themed pieces, Blast Off and Snoopy Sees a Sunrise (1970) will be loaned to the travelling retrospective on the life and works of Alma Thomas sponsored by the Columbus Museum in Columbus, Georgia and the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia and hosted by the Phillips Collection.

Maintaining the world's largest collection of aviation and space artifacts and memorabilia, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum is a monument to the achievement of human flight and all related works of art and archival materials. Between the main facility on the National Mall, opened in 1976, and the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington-Dulles International Airport, the museum welcomes over eight million visitors a year, making it the most visited museum in the country. As part of their mission to showcase works of art related to the history, culture, and science of spaceflight, the museum currently houses a collection of works by Alma Thomas entitled The Art of Alma W. Thomas: A Colorful Response. Within this collection are several of Thomas's abstract paintings inspired by the Apollo Moon landing, as well as other works produced by Thomas in the late 1960s and early 1970s that reinterpreted the natural world through her unique lens.

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

After a three-year modernization project taking place from 2017 to 2020, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library reopened in September 2020 with brand new spaces and features. Check dclibrary.org for updates and information about current available services &amp; hours.One of the new features of the MLK Library is the Alma Thomas Teen Space on the building's second floor. The decision to name the teen space after Thomas was made in honor of her commitment to education &amp; youth in the city of DC as well as her artistic work and achievements. In a memo dated May 14, 2020, DC Public Library's executive director, Richard Reyes-Gavilan, wrote to the Library Board of Trustees with a proposal to name the teen center in honor of Thomas, in which he cites many of her personal and professional accomplishments and service to the city, saying:<blockquote>"... the Library will be able to display original works by Alma Thomas and develop... programs designed to introduce students to her work, the work of her contemporaries, and to the historical context that made her success all the more remarkable...Alma Thomas was and continues to be an inspiring Washingtonian and arguably the most important painter who lived her entire life in the District. The modernized Martin Luther King Jr. Library Teen Room is the most appropriate space to honor her life, showcase her work, and celebrate her legacy and commitment to the education of the District’s youth."</blockquote>This teen space features young adult fiction, nonfiction, manga, and graphic novel collections, quiet study rooms, computers, social workspaces, and audiovisual and gaming equipment. It will serve as a hub for educational and arts-based programming, celebrating the spirit of Thomas' work with young people. Thirteen original Alma Thomas artworks have been donated to the library by DC residents Susan and Dit Talley, which will be displayed on a rotating basis around the Alma Thomas Teen Space. As of Spring 2021, additional digital and physical exhibits about Thomas' life and work are in progress to be completed within the calendar year.In addition to the Alma Thomas Teen Center, DC Public Library cardholders can access electronic and print resources in the library's collections about her life and work. These resources include:<ul><li>books (such as Alma Thomas, edited by Ian Berry and Lauren Haynes, Alma Woodsey Thomas: Painter and Educator by Charlotte Etinde-Crompton and Samuel Willard Crompton, and Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison)</li><li>reference articles in databases like Oxford African American Studies Center, Gale in Context: U.S. History, and Biography</li><li>online historical newspaper collections including Historic Black Newspapers and The Washington Post: Current and Historic, where one can research articles written about Thomas and her work both during her lifetime and since.</li></ul>The People's Archive on the fourth floor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, whose mission it is "to connect you to unique resources that illustrate the District of Columbia’s local history and culture," also contains resources relevant to Thomas, her contemporaries, and the historical context of her life and work, including the Barnett-Aden Collection catalog from 1974. The People's Archive can be accessed virtually at dclibrary.org/thepeoplesarchive.

The newly modernized Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library is the central library of the DC Public Library system. Originally designed by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and opened in 1972, it has served from that time as the city's central hub for library materials, activities, services, and programs. After a three-year closure for a complete building modernization, the MLK Library re-opened in Fall 2020 with many new features and spaces, including the Alma Thomas Teen Space. Located on the second floor, this room is dedicated solely to collections, spaces, services, and programs for youth ages 13-19. The second floor will display some of Thomas' original artwork and feature displays and programs honoring her spirit of dedication to education, youth, and the arts. Additionally, DC Public Library users can access information about Thomas' life and work through digital and print resources.

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library

While Thomas was growing up, she was not welcome in many of museums that now house her famous artworks. Having her work on display in the SAAM is an accomplishment, as few museums featured the work of Black Americans or women artists. These museums were also often segregated. Today, Thomas' work is on display in these very same museums: "One of the things we couldn't do was go into museums, let alone think of hanging our pictures there. My, times have changed. Just look at me now" - Alma Thomas.Her paintings in the SAAM are not about her racial or gender identity however, as she did not like for her work to be classified in that way. These paintings reflect the expert colorist that she was, with daring and innovative mosaic-like patterns that are inspired by nature. Thomas' later paintings are all abstract in nature, as she was fascinated by the light, the flora, and the fauna found in Washington, D.C. When touring the paintings at SAAM we are able to gain insight into the way her mind worked and her unique perspective of the world.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM), including its satellite location, the Renwick Gallery, houses one of the world's largest and most inclusive collections of art. The collection dates from the colonial period to the present and consists of art work created in the United States by American artists. Several of Alma Thomas' works are housed at the SAAM, including "White Roses Sing and Sing," "Snoopy Sees Earth Wrapped in Sunset," "The Eclipse," and "Red Abstraction."

Smithsonian American Art Museum

The Archives of American Art houses a selection of over 6000 of Thomas' personal papers and ephemeral materials. The collection is a fascinating look at her inner world and includes:<ul><li>photographs of Thomas and her friends, family, and colleagues throughout her life</li><li>scrapbooks from her time teaching at Shaw Junior High</li><li>personal letters and notes</li><li>exhibition catalogs and business documents</li><li>newspaper clippings</li><li>autobiographical material and more</li></ul>Accessing these additional materials allows us a closer look into her psyche and a better understanding of her life and creative process.A finding aid for these is available here. Much of the 5.5 linear feet of Thomas' papers housed at the archives have been digitized and can be accessed and explored freely online. If you would like to visit the archives in person to view Thomas' original papers, an appointment is required. Before visiting any Smithsonian Institution, be sure to check the current operation status and hours at si.edu.

The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of visual arts and artists in the United States. Housed in the Victor Building in Washington, DC, The Archives of American Art is home to a number of magnificent ephemeral and archival material about Alma Thomas.

Archives of American Art

Located in the Special Exhibitions Gallery of the Phillips Collection, ALMA W. THOMAS: EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL will explore the life and artistic career of Alma Woodsey Thomas (1891-1978).The exhibition will chart Thomas's life as an artist through over 100 of her pieces, from her childhood in Georgia, to her career as a teacher, to the years after her death when her work began to gain international recognition. Co-curators Jonathan Frederick Walz (Director of Curatorial Affairs/Curator of American Art, The Columbus Museum) and Seth Feman (Deputy Director for Art &amp; Interpretation/Curator of Photography, Chrysler Museum of Art) have intentionally crafted an exhibition that will incorporate archival materials to reveal Thomas's complex, diverse artistic experience throughout her entire life, rather than just the work that was featured in her star-making solo show at the Whitney Museum in 1972.Themes of the exhibition will include Thomas's time and active role within the Washington Color School and the Little Paris Group, a coterie of Black D.C.-based artists founded and led by Lois Mailou Jones and Celine Marie Tabary, faculty members in the art department at Howard University. This circle, as well as other Howard University creative communities which Thomas fostered and participated in, will be a key feature of the exhibit. The Little Paris Group was crucial in helping Black artists grow their craft and learn from peers in a safe space at at time when many museums and galleries failed or refused to display works by artists of color.Though Thomas's life and work has gained considerably more attention in recent years, Walz and Feman note that the tendency has been to focus on the paintings from the latter half of Thomas's career in the late 1960's and early 1970's. With ALMA W. THOMAS: EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL, they are hoping that both the general public and art lovers will find in Thomas's long career an example of a creative life well lived. Now, perhaps for the first time, the world will have a chance to glimpse the full legacy of Alma W. Thomas.

The Phillips Collection, an art museum founded in 1921 by Duncan and Marjorie Acker Phillips in Dupont Circle, has displayed works from some of history's greatest artists. In Fall 2021 they will host ALMA W. THOMAS: EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL, an exhibit of over 100 of Thomas's creations, from her memorable abstract paintings, to her lessen known theatrical pieces. Structured around the various themes found in Thomas's oeuvre, the exhibit will explore Thomas's place within the Washington Color School, her deep connection to Howard University, and how her art drew from and found its way into every aspect of her life, whether her teaching, gardening, or activism. The exhibit will run from October 30, 2021 to January 23, 2022. Advanced online timed tickets are required for all visitors to the Collection, including members. Tickets for children 18 &amp; under and members are free, but still required.

The Phillips Collection

Alma Thomas found inspiration in landscapes and flowers around her, which she stylized in shapes and patterns created with repeated, colorful brushstrokes. Her paintings are infused with personal memories and references; her painting Tiptoe Through the Tulips refers not only to the springtime flowers that populate Washington, DC, but also to the plucky song published in 1929 and famously recorded by Tiny Tim in 1968. Similarly inspired by nature, Pansies in Washington presents a series of concentric circles with multicolored strokes – an abstracted take on what an aerial view of a pansy garden might look like. Thomas’ work Red Rose Cantata derives from her interest in both nature and music, its linear organization with organic variations forming a kind of visual rhythm, as if the artist had painted a cantata, a type of musical composition. The artist’s works on paper in the National Gallery collection--several of which are watercolors--present similar styles and themes drawing from nature.

The National Gallery of Art, founded as a gift to the nation, serves as a center of visual art, education, and culture. The collection of more than 150,000 paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, photographs, prints, and drawings spans the history of Western art and showcases some of the triumphs of human creativity. Across 363 days a year, the Gallery offers a full spectrum of special exhibitions and public programs free of charge. Alma Thomas’s first steps in DC would have been next to the National Gallery campus, where the Baltimore and Potomac Railway Station once stood, after she and her family took the train from Columbus, GA to DC in 1907. Today, the National Gallery owns four paintings by Alma Thomas and five additional works on paper.

Alma Thomas DC Heritage Tour

U.S. National Arboretum

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information