Red Abstraction
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
Object Details
- Date
- 1959
- Artist
- Alma Thomas, born Columbus, GA 1891-died Washington, DC 1978
- Exhibition Label
- Thomas began shifting from representation to abstraction in the late 1950s. She developed her signature style, using “stripes” of bright color, in the mid-1960s. Red Abstraction represents a moment in this evolution, before the artist moved into high-key color and acrylic paint. Rendered in oil paint, the painting testifies to Thomas’s persistent interest in the abstract forms and colors of nature. Its oranges and reds evoke the vibrant foliage of fall, while vertical swipes of black suggest the directional growth of trees.
- Luce Center Label
- Alma Thomas was inspired by the garden outside her window and painted images that suggest light flickering through leaves and petals. She used dabs and strokes of paint to express the "new colors through the windowpanes" that appeared every time the plants moved in the wind (Alma Thomas: Phantasmagoria, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 2001). Here, the reds, browns, and greens create a warm, heavy mass in the center of the image, which contrasts with the paler shades around the edges. The earthy tones evoke the changing of the leaves during fall, when treetops appear to burst with vibrant color.
- Luce Object Quote
- ". . . through my impressions of nature . . . I hoped to impart beauty, joy, love, and peace." Artist’s statement, in Van Vechten, Recent Painting by Alma W. Thomas: Earth and Space Series, Exhibition Catalogue, Gallery of Fine Arts, 1971
- Topic
- Abstract
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist
- Data Source
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Object number
- 1978.40.2
- Type
- Painting
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 40 x 27 3/4 in. (101.6 x 70.5 cm)
- Metadata Usage
- Not determined
- Record ID
- saam_1978.40.2