Solo show
Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas
15 Sep 2023 — 4 Aug 2024 at Smithsonian American Art Museum
· Washington, D.C.
Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas is a traveling exhibition organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, touring from 2023 to 2024. The show celebrates the extraordinary legacy of Alma Thomas (1891–1978), one of the most distinctive voices in American abstract art.
Through her signature mosaic-like brushwork and bold, joyful use of color, Thomas transformed observations of the natural world — light filtering through leaves, the rhythm of seasons, the wonder of space exploration — into luminous, purely abstract compositions. Working primarily in the 1960s and 1970s, she became, at the age of 80, the first Black woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
This traveling presentation brings together a selection of her most celebrated paintings, offering audiences across the country the opportunity to experience the full emotional and visual power of her work.
Through her signature mosaic-like brushwork and bold, joyful use of color, Thomas transformed observations of the natural world — light filtering through leaves, the rhythm of seasons, the wonder of space exploration — into luminous, purely abstract compositions. Working primarily in the 1960s and 1970s, she became, at the age of 80, the first Black woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
This traveling presentation brings together a selection of her most celebrated paintings, offering audiences across the country the opportunity to experience the full emotional and visual power of her work.
About the artist
Alma Thomas
1891–1978 · abstract expressionism
Alma Woodsey Thomas was an American artist and art teacher who lived and worked in Washington, D.C., and is now recognized as a major American painter of the 20th century. She is the first African-American woman to be included in the White House's permanent art collection. Thomas is best known for…
About the artist →About the venue
Smithsonian American Art Museum
· Washington, D.C.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's largest and most inclusive collections of art made in the United States from the colonial period to the…