The next Artist You Need To Know is Alma Thomas (1891 – 1978).
Thomas was an African-American artist and art teacher who spent the majority of her life and career in Washington, D.C.. She is considered one of the most significant painters from the United States of the 20th century, and was the first African-American woman to be included in the White House’s permanent art collection and was the first African-American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Best known for her vibrant and expressive use of colour in her abstract paintings, Thomas rejected any pigeonholing of her work and spoke of giving form to her own unique vision. Her artistic career happened later in life, after she retired from a 35-year career teaching art at Washington’s Shaw Junior High School.
From The Art Story : “Alma Thomas made a unique and vital contribution to the development of mid-to-late 20th century American abstraction. Her richly colored patterned paintings are considered all the more remarkable given that Thomas’s artistic career did not take off until she had reached retirement age. She arrived at her signature “Alma’s Stripes” style by borrowing ideas from sources as miscellaneous as Byzantine mosaics, the Pointillism of Georges Seurat, Henri Matisse (especially his famous 1953 Snail collage), the Bauhaus color theorist Johannes Itten, and painters connected to the Washington Color School. As the first African American woman to hold a solo exhibition at New York’s prestigious Whitney Museum of American Art, and with her paintings hanging on the presidential walls of the White House, Thomas has served as a role model for women, African Americans, and older artists all at once.”
“Do you see that painting? Look at it move. That’s energy and I’m the one who put it there […] I transform energy with these old limbs of mine.”
Born in 1891 in Columbus, Georgia, Thomas was creative from a young age (her mother and aunts were Tuskegee Institute graduates and encouraged her) making puppets and small sculptures. In 1907, her family relocated to Washington, D.C., and Thomas has commented that they did this in part to further her own education, as she had access to educational resources that she didn’t in Georgia, and although the family’s economic position shifted slightly downward with the move, the racial discrimination in Georgia was also surely a factor in leaving. Washington was still under the ignorance of segregation, but still offered more opportunity and safety for Thomas and her family. Looking back on this time from the 1970s, Thomas commented that “at least Washington’s libraries were open to Negroes, whereas Columbus excluded Negroes from its only library.”
Thomas went to Armstrong Technical High School : and this was her first experience of art classes, and she would speak of this time as laying “the foundation for my life.” At Miner Normal School (now known as University of the District of Columbia) she obtained her teaching credentials (1913) and would teach at the Princess Anne schools on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and then at the Thomas Garrett Settlement House in Wilmington, Delaware, until 1921. At that time, she left teaching for Howard University, where her previous teaching experienced was recognized with her acceptance as a junior in the program. She was 30 at the time. While there, she focused upon sculpture and earned a Bachelor of Science in Fine Arts in 1924 : she was the first graduate from the university’s art program, and this set a trend of how Thomas broke ground throughout her career.
She immediately began teaching at Shaw Junior High School : she would be on faculty there until her retirement in 1960. A colleague at the time was the artist Malkia Roberts. Thurlow Tibbs (a D.C. based African-American art dealer) has spoken of this time as Thomas’ “fermenting period.” While teaching, Thomas was making art (which she would describe as quite traditional) and engaged in many activities in her local art community, often tied to Howard University : she often travelled to New York City to visit galleries, continuing her education in several ways, such as how during the summers (from 1930 – 1934) Thomas attended Teachers College of Columbia University earning a Masters in Art Education, or how in the summer of 1935 she spent a summer working with Tony Sarg who is acknowledged as the father of modern puppetry in the United States.
Thomas would also found a group – the School Arts League Project – in 1936 that expanded her focus on art opportunities for children.
“Art is inevitably the expression of external conditions, modified though they be by the genius and personality of the artist.”
In 1943, in collaboration with James W. Herring (a professor at Howard university who had been one of Thomas’ teachers) and Alonzo J. Aden, she founded the Barnett-Aden Gallery. This was the first – and very successful – art gallery that was founded and run by Afridan-Americans. This was another turning point in Thomas’ career as it fostered connections with both important national contemporary artists and an exposure to current movements but it also platformed local artists in her immediate community.
Also in the1940s, she became a part of The Little Paris Group (also known as Little Paris Studio or Little Paris Studio Group). Founded by Lois Mailou Jones and Céline Marie Tabary (both members of the Howard University faculty). Although it only lasted for five years, the frequent meetings helped to develop and refine ac community of African-American artists on both a regional and wider scale.
Other important members of this collective include Delilah Pierce, Bruce Brown and Richard Dempsey.
Some art historians who’ve studied Thomas’ life assert that her time with the Little Paris Group spurred her to return to other academic spaces, which culminated in her taking various classes at the American University (which had been described as having one of the most, if not the pre eminent, avant-garde art department in the United States during the 1950s). At the age of 59 Thomas commenced taking weekend and night classes there in both studio and art history. Her teachers included Robert Franklin Gates, Ben “Joe” Summerford and Jacob Kainen : the last of these had the most influence on her, and his respect for her – treating her more as a fellow artist rather than a student – was the foundation of a friendship that lasted the rest of her life.
It was during this time that Thomas began to shift from figurative works to more abstracted works, incorporating elements of cubism and abstract expressionism, producing large works in the vibrant hues that would become her primary style.
Along with Sam Gilliam, Thomas would become among the most renowned members of the Washington Colour School, often being recognized as “a force in the Washington Color School.” (from The Washington Post)
“Through colour, I have sought to concentrate on beauty and happiness, rather than on man’s inhumanity to man.”
A listing of exhibitions of Alma Thomas’ artwork can be seen here.
Her artworks can be found in numerous important collections, including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, (Washington, D.C.), Columbus Museum (Georgia, USA), Phillips Collection (Washington, D.C.), Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, George Washington University (Washington, D.C.), the White House Historical Association (Washington, D.C.), Brooklyn Museum (NYC), National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington, D.C.), the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), Baltimore Museum of Art, Whitney Museum (NYC), Tougaloo College (Jackson, Mississippi), Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Modern Art (NYC), University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art, Fort Wayne Museum of Art (Indiana, USA) and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Alma Thomas died in 1978, from complications post aortic (heart) surgery.
“Colour is life. Light is the mother of colour. Light reveals to us the spirit and living soul of the world through colours.”
Much more about Alma Thoart, life and legacy can be seen here.