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Alma Thomas: Moving Heaven & Earth
Paintings and Works on Paper, 1958-1978

March 20 – May 16, 2015


1 of 46
Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Untitled, 1958 oil o...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Untitled, 1958
oil on canvas
40" x 16 1/4"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Yellow and Blue, 195...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Yellow and Blue, 1959
oil on canvas
28" x 40"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Untitled, 1960 acryl...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Untitled, 1960
acrylic on paper
18 " x 14"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Untitled, 1960 black...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Untitled, 1960
black ink and wash on paper
19 1/4" x 15 3/8"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Untitled, c.1960 oil...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Untitled, c.1960
oil on canvas
24" x 30"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Untitled, c.1962 acr...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Untitled, c.1962
acrylic on paper
22 1/4" x 30"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) March on Washington,...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
March on Washington, 1964
acrylic on canvas
31" x 39"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Untitled, 1966 acryl...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Untitled, 1966
acrylic on paper
30 3/4" x 22 3/4"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Untitled, 1967 acryl...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Untitled, 1967
acrylic and graphite on paper
22" x 29 1/2"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Tales of the Vienna...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Tales of the Vienna Woods, 1968
acrylic on paper
22 3/8" x 30"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) End of Autumn, 1968...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
End of Autumn, 1968
acrylic and graphite on canvas
25" x 25"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Azaleas in Spring, 1...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Azaleas in Spring, 1968
acrylic on canvas
20" x 24"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Red Tree in High Win...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Red Tree in High Winter, 1968
acrylic and graphite on canvas
24" x 34 1/4"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Untitled, 1968 acryl...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Untitled, 1968
acrylic on canvas
39" x 14"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Spring No.1, 1968 ac...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Spring No.1, 1968
acrylic on canvas
39" x 14"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Spring No.2, 1968 ac...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Spring No.2, 1968
acrylic on canvas
39" x 14"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Fire Flies, 1968 acr...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Fire Flies, 1968
acrylic and graphite on paper
22 1/2" x 30"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Untitled, c.1968 acr...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Untitled, c.1968
acrylic on paper
21 7/8" x 29 3/4"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Untitled, c.1968 acr...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Untitled, c.1968
acrylic and graphite on canvas
35 3/4" x 37 5/8"

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Fall Approaching, 19...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Fall Approaching, 1969
acrylic and graphite on canvas
18" x 24"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) The Azaleas Sway Wit...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
The Azaleas Sway With the Breeze, 1969
acrylic and graphite on canvas
64" x 50"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Untitled, 1970 acryl...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Untitled, 1970
acrylic and graphite on paper
8 1/4" x 11 1/8"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Apollo 12 "Spla...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Apollo 12 "Splash Down", 1970
acrylic and graphite on canvas
50 1/4" x 50 1/4"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Untitled, c.1970 acr...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Untitled, c.1970
acrylic and graphite on paper
6 1/2" x 9 1/8"

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Untitled, c.1970 acr...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Untitled, c.1970
acrylic and graphite on paper
6 1/2" x 9 1/2"

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Untitled, c.1970 acr...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Untitled, c.1970
acrylic and graphite on paper
6" x 6 3/4"

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Snoopy Sees Sunrise...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Snoopy Sees Sunrise on Earth, 1971
acrylic and graphite on canvas
24" x 20"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Untitled, 1972 acryl...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Untitled, 1972
acrylic and graphite on paper
22 1/4" x 30 3/4"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Atmospheric Effect #...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Atmospheric Effect #10, 1972
acrylic and graphite on paper
22 1/8" x 30 1/2"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Milky Way, 1972 acry...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Milky Way, 1972
acrylic on canvas
22" x 28"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Cumulus, 1972 acryli...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Cumulus, 1972
acrylic on canvas
71" x 53"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Deep Red Roses Chant...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Deep Red Roses Chant, 1972
acrylic on canvas
20 1/8" x 28 1/8"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Carnival of Autumn L...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Carnival of Autumn Leaves, 1973
acrylic on canvas
50" x 50"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Approaching Storm at...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Approaching Storm at Sunset, 1973
acrylic on canvas
38" x 38"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Jonquils, 1973 acryl...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Jonquils, 1973
acrylic on canvas
26 1/8" x 36 1/8"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Oriental Sunset, 197...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Oriental Sunset, 1973
acrylic on canvas
72" x 52"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Jupiter's Glow,...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Jupiter's Glow, c.1974
acrylic on paper
22 3/8" x 30 1/8"

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Winter Pond, 1974 ac...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Winter Pond, 1974
acrylic and graphite on paper
22 1/4" x 30"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Untitled, c.1974 acr...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Untitled, c.1974
acrylic on paper
6" x 8"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Untitled, c.1974 acr...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Untitled, c.1974
acrylic and graphite on paper
5 7/8" x 8 "
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Untitled, c.1974 acr...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Untitled, c.1974
acrylic and graphite on paper
5 1/4" x 7 5/8"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Untitled, c.1974 acr...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Untitled, c.1974
acrylic and graphite on paper
6 1/4" x 7 3/4"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Scarlet Sage Dancing...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Scarlet Sage Dancing a Whirling Dervish, 1976
acrylic on canvas
72" x 52"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Red Scarlet Sage, 19...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Red Scarlet Sage, 1976
acrylic on canvas
46" x 36"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Evening Glow, 1977 a...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Evening Glow, 1977
acrylic and graphite on paper
22 1/2" x 30"
signed

Alma Thomas (1891–1978) Rainbow, 1978 acryli...

Alma Thomas (1891–1978)
Rainbow, 1978
acrylic on canvasboard
18" x 24"



Artists


Press


Press Release

“Man’s highest inspirations come from nature. A world without color would seem dead. Color is life. Light is the mother of color. Light reveals to us the spirit and living soul of the world through colors.

Spring delivers her dynamic sermon to the world each year, drenching one’s soul with its magnificent outburst of light hues of colors to darker ones as the weather grows warmer. Autumn, with the aid of Jack Frost, gives overwhelming, luscious, strong colors to the earth to enrich man’s soul, seemingly relieving him of the hardships he encounters in life.”
— Alma Thomas

(New York—March 12, 2015) Michael Rosenfeld Gallery is pleased to present Alma Thomas: Moving Heaven & Earth, Paintings and Works on Paper, 1958-1978, an exhibition of over forty exuberant paintings, drawings, and watercolors. This exhibition will be the gallery’s second show dedicated exclusively to Thomas’s work. The first, Alma Thomas: Phantasmagoria, Major Paintings from the 1970s (2001), traveled to the Women’s Museum in Dallas, Texas. The current exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated color catalogue featuring a newly transcribed and previously unpublished oral history interview with the artist. 

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery has long been a champion of Alma Thomas’s work. In addition to the 2001 solo exhibition, the gallery has featured her work in several major group exhibitions, including Stroke! Beauford Delaney, Norman Lewis, Alma Thomas (2005), African American Art: 200 Years (2008), Abstract Expressionism: Reloading the Canon (2011), and Beyond the Spectrum, Abstraction in African American Art, 1950-1975 (2014). The gallery has also successfully placed her paintings in the permanent collections of such institutions as the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Crystal Bridges Museum of Art in Bentonville, Arkansas as well as many private collections.

Alma Thomas: Moving Heaven & Earth focuses on the last two decades of Thomas’s life, which were also the first two decades of her career as an artist. Late to commit to producing art full-time, Thomas nevertheless quickly developed an original and dynamic style characterized by large-scale abstractions comprised of rhythmic, repeated marks of vibrant color. The monumental canvases Thomas became celebrated for in the 1960s and 1970s were informed by the Washington Color School, which included Morris Louis, Sam Gilliam, and Kenneth Noland. However, her interest in color experimentation also aligned her closely to Josef Albers, Johannes Itten, and Wassily Kandinsky.

Inspired by nature, recent discoveries in the sciences, and her observations of earthly and celestial phenomena, Thomas’s work was devoid of overt political content. Her dedication to abstraction reflected a belief shared by painter Norman Lewis that modern art at its best could transcend political and historical concerns. But also like Lewis, although Thomas chose to eschew explicitly political content, she remained actively committed to social justice and equality. In addition to her involvement with Artists for CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), Thomas continued to organize art programs and teach art classes to local Washington, DC youth throughout her life. In 1972, Thomas became the first African American woman to be given a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of Art, New York. That same year, the Corcoran Gallery (Washington, DC) also mounted Alma W. Thomas: A Retrospective. In 1975, Howard University honored her with its Alumni of Achievement Award in recognition of her importance to the history of art as well as to the local African American communities touched by her considerable talent as an artist and teacher.

Thomas was celebrated for her undeniable talent during her lifetime, and her work has continued to be exhibited throughout the country and met with enthusiastic praise. In her 2001 review of Phantasmagoria, NY Times art critic Grace Glueck wrote, “with each new showing, Thomas's paintings look fresher and livelier, their totally abstract vocabulary of color markings conveying the spirit of a vibrant inner life . . . Laid down in irregular allover patterns on solid grounds that show through in webs and networks, her late works are sophisticated color structures that still reveal a debt to the natural world. Joy may be in short supply elsewhere, but it resonates in these paintings.” The joy that resounds in Thomas’s visual chants of color will continue to reverberate as part of her legacy. A woman whose career as an artist began at age sixty-seven and rose quickly to great heights, Alma Thomas still soars, decades after her death in 1978.

Long after Alma Thomas: Moving Heaven & Earth, the spotlight will remain on Alma Thomas. The Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College and The Studio Museum in Harlem are co-organizing a retrospective of the work of Alma Thomas that will open February 2016 at the Tang and be on view at the Studio Museum in summer 2016.  Additional traveling venues to be announced.  The exhibition is curated by Ian Berry, Dayton Director of the Tang Museum and Lauren Haynes, Associate Curator, Permanent Collection at the Studio Museum.  A major catalogue will accompany the exhibition with extensive images and new essays on Thomas's important work and influential legacy.

Visuals available upon request.

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery is located at 100 Eleventh Avenue (at 19th Street), New York, NY, 10011. Gallery hours are Tuesday–Saturday, 10AM-6PM.

For additional information, please contact Marjorie Van Cura at 212.247.0082 or mv@michaelrosenfeldart.com.

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