White House art inspired by a tree in Logan Circle

5__Alma Thomas House

White House art inspired by a tree in Logan Circle

First Lady Michelle Obama stood at a podium in April 2015 to deliver opening remarks at the inauguration of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s new location in New York City. Her invitation to the ceremony was a testament to her support for the arts and humanities, a commitment that the Obama administration exemplified just two months earlier with a historic contribution to the White House: a painting by Alma Thomas.

The public tour of the president’s house became more colorful and more representative of the American people when the painting was added to the Old Family Dining Room. This moment marked Thomas’ legacy as the first African American woman to have her art featured in the White House. The piece from 1966 is titled Resurrection, and the inspiration for it came from the house where Thomas lived since she was a teenager.

Thomas spent nearly four decades as a professional art teacher at Shaw Junior High School. Shortly into her retirement, she suffered an arthritic attack that limited her mobility, and she would continue her art career from her living room. It was here that she recalls sitting on a red chair, admiring the holly tree outside, and recognizing the beautiful patterns and bright colors that shone through the windowpane. “That tree changed my whole career, my whole way of thinking,” she said.

Half a century later, the view Alma Thomas saw from her living room would hang in the White House, just one mile from her own house that is now marked with a historical plaque.

Her career would peak in 1972 when she was honored with a retrospective exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in conjunction with Howard University, where she was the first to graduate from their fine arts program. That same year, at the age of 80, Alma Thomas would become the first African American woman to have a solo exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

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Address 1530 15th Street NW, Washington, DC 20005, historicsites.dcpreservation.org/ items/show/596 | Getting there Metro to McPherson Square (Blue, Orange, and Silver Line); bus 52 to 14th Street NW & Rhode Island Avenue NW; DC Circulator to 14th & P Streets NW | Hours Viewable from the outside only | Tip Visit the Smithsonian American Art Museum to view The Eclipse, an Alma Thomas painting similar to Resurrection (8th & G Streets NW, www.americanart.si.edu/artwork/eclipse-24007).