Alma W. Thomas
(Columbus, Georgia, 1891 - 1978, Washington, D.C., United States)
Pond - Spring Awakening
1972
Acrylic on canvas
68 x 55 in. (172.7 x 139.7 cm)
Collection of the Akron Art Museum
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson
1976.32
© Estate of Alma Woodsey Thomas
More Information
After retiring from her career as an art teacher in 1960, Thomas devoted herself fulltime to making art. Her abstractions, which focus on color and light, are frequently inspired by, and named after, experiences of viewing nature. In the early 1970s, Thomas began to limit the number of colors in her paintings, focusing on color harmonies and contrasts. Here, vivid patches of color peek out through a screen of gray brushstrokes. In 1972, the year she made this painting, Thomas was the first African American woman to have a solo exhibition at New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art.
Keywords
African AmericanAcrylic
Abstract art
Metaphor
Color
American