LIFESTYLE Artist Alma W. Thomas – Pioneer, Educator Taught Us How to See Beauty in the Everyday D. Kevin McNeir WI Senior Writer The ongoing pandemic, now into its second year, may have many peo-
ple fearful of the future and unable to find enjoyment in what some have described as the “new normal.” But as one pioneering artist and educator, Alma W. Thomas, helped us
EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL
NOW THROUGH JANUARY 23, 2022 Alma W. Thomas: Everything Is Beautiful is co-organized by the Chrysler Museum of Art, Virginia, and The Columbus Museum, Georgia. Aflac is proud to sponsor Alma W. Thomas: Everything Is Beautiful. The exhibition has also been made possible in part by major support from the Henry Luce Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts Generous funding is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Robert & Mercedes Eichholz Foundation,the Robert Lehman Foundation, and Dina and George Perry. Additional support provided by John and Gina Despres, Linda Lichtenberg Kaplan, and the Ednah Root Foundation Alma Thomas, Pansies in Washington (detail), 1969, Acrylic on canvas, 50 x 48 in., National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Corcoran Collection (Gift of Vincent Melzac)
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28 JANUARY 13 - 19, 2022
realize, there’s beauty all around us – particularly in the “every day.” And now, through Jan. 23, you can experience her breathtaking paintings in the District as The Phillips Collection continues its commitment to showcasing the works of African-American artists whose creativity and talent lives on – well after their deaths. Under the direction of cultural and educational institutions across D.C., residents and visitors can celebrate Thomas’s life with a variety of programs, events, and a major exhibition at The Phillips Collection, honoring her contributions to our cultural heritage. “Alma W. Thomas: Everything is Beautiful” delivers a new perspective on the artist’s long life (1891-1978) and her career – one defined by constant creativity. The retrospective chronicles her journey from rural Georgia to the District where she became the first Black
woman featured in a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art at age 81. Through artworks and archival materials, this exhibition demonstrates how Thomas’s wide-reaching artistic practices extended far beyond her studio, shaping every facet of her life – from community service, to teaching, to gardening. The oldest of four girls, Thomas and her family migrated from Columbus, Georgia, to the District, hoping to escape the racial violence of the South. Segregation notwithstanding, D.C., as the nation’s capital, still offered more opportunities for Blacks than most cities during that era. As a child, she dreamed of being an architect and building bridges. But few women architects existed a century ago – certainly not Black. So, Thomas decided to matriculate at Howard University. By 1924, she had distinguished herself as the first
art department graduate at Howard University. A constant learner, she studied the latest developments in art, visiting museums in New York, Europe, and D.C., including The Phillips Collection. For 35 years and in a segregated city, she empowered art students at Shaw Junior High School to see beauty in the everyday and brought exhibition opportunities and cultural enrichment to Black youth. Teaching allowed her to support herself while pursuing her own painting part-time. Thomas’s early art was realistic, though her Howard professor James V. Herring and peer Loïs Mailou Jones challenged her to experiment with abstraction. When she retired from teaching and began to give her undivided attention to her art, Thom-
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For Thomas – who died in 1978 but lived long enough to go from what she called “horse and buggy times” to the 1969 moon landing – the rush of modernity demanded expression . . . THE WASHINGTON INFORMER / WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM
