Alma Thomas Paintings Hang in White House
Sky Light, 1973 (left), and Watusi (Hard Edge), 1963 (right), by Alma Thomas,
Gift of Vincent Melzac/Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
The White House released the list of paintings that the Obamas have borrowed from various Washington museums for their presidential home last week.
Of the new modern and abstract artworks adorning their walls are two paintings (above) by Alma Thomas, a longtime Washington resident. Swann Galleries recently sold Untitled (Concentric Circles) (below), acrylic over pencil on wove paper, circa 1970, for $8,400 in our auction of African-American Fine Art last week. To read more about Thomas’s illustrious career and the Obamas’ painting selections, read Holland Cotter’s article “White House Art: Colors From a World of Black and White” on the New York Times website.
According to The New York Times, “Asked once by an interviewer if she saw herself as a black artist, Ms. Thomas replied: “No, I do not. I am an American.” But the tradition she participated in overrode national borders. She was a euphoric Modernist, a believer in the infinite possibilities of human progress.”
Pictured here is Marvin Newma
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