Adjusting Our Focus

Alma Thomas was an accomplished visual artist and dedicated art educator known for her bright, colorful, abstract paintings. Inspired by the natural beauty of her home in Washington, DC, she captured scenes from her window, local parks, and the National Arboretum in her signature style. Some of her works on display locally include Breeze Rustling Through Fall Flowers (1968) at The Phillips Collection, as well as Autumn Leaves Fluttering in the Breeze (1973), Red Azaleas Singing and Dancing Rock and Roll Music (1976), and Aquatic Gardens (1973) at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Beyond nature, Thomas was also inspired by space exploration, evident in her famous painting The Eclipse (1970), as well as Snoopy - Early Sun Display on Earth (1970), on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

A pioneer in many ways, Thomas became the first graduate to earn a degree in fine arts from Howard University in 1924. She was also a part of the Little Paris Group, a community of Black  artists in Washington, DC, founded and led by Loïs Mailou Jones (also on display here). This group met regularly in Jones’ attic studio to create, critique, and discuss developments in the art world.  

“Through color, I have sought to concentrate on beauty and happiness, rather than on man’s inhumanity to man.”

For nearly forty years, Thomas taught art at Shaw Junior High School in Washington, DC, before retiring from teaching. It was only after retirement that she dedicated herself to her own artistic practice and developed her signature abstract style, featuring elements of pointillism with mosaic-like strokes of bright color arranged in dynamic patterns. 

Thomas was a trailblazer. She co-founded the Barnett Aden Gallery, one of the first Black-owned art galleries in the country, and in 1972, was the first Black woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Her art has been exhibited at the White House three times, and she was the first Black female artist to have her work become a part of the White House’s Art Collection. 
 

• Walk by Alma Thomas’s home in Logan Circle, 1530 15th Street NW and gather your own inspiration.
• Visit The Smithsonian American Art Museum at G Street Northwest &, 8th St NW, Washington, DC 20004 where four of her paintings are on display: Autumn Leaves Fluttering in the Breeze, Red Azaleas Singing and Dancing Rock and Roll Music, Aquatic Gardens, Snoopy - Early Sun Display on Earth.
• Visit The Phillips Collection at 1600 21st St NW, Washington, DC 20009 where Breeze Rustling Through Fall Flowers is on display.