Thomas, Alma Woodsey

Impact on the world

Became, at age 80, the first African American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1972, capping a career built on bright, repeating abstract patterns of color that she developed largely after retiring from a 35-year career as a junior high school art teacher in Washington, D.C., demonstrating, in her own life's example, that a major artistic breakthrough could come well after most careers had already ended.

Life & background

Thomas spent 35 years teaching junior high school art in segregated Washington, D.C. before retiring in 1960 at 68 to pursue her own painting career in earnest, going on to develop a signature style of vibrant, mosaic-like abstract color patterns inspired by natural forms such as gardens and the patterns of light through leaves. Her breakthrough 1972 solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, achieved at age 80, made her the first African American woman to receive that distinction, and she continued painting prolifically into her final years, including works inspired by NASA's early space program. Her work, largely overlooked for decades after her death, has since been the subject of renewed museum attention and acquisition, with her paintings now held in major collections including the White House, which displayed her work during the Obama administration.

Sources

1. Sweet Water Foundation (Celebrating Black History Through Art); Whitney Museum of American Art; Smithsonian American Art Museum; National Gallery of Art