Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas

The Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester will present “Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas,” an exhibition that celebrates the artistic life of Thomas, a Black trailblazer in twentieth-century
American art.

Born in 1891 in Columbus, Georgia, Thomas was the first graduate of Howard University’s fine arts program and later earned a master’s degree in arts education from Columbia University. After retiring from a distinguished career as a schoolteacher, Thomas devoted herself fully to painting, creating works that would solidify her place in art history.

In 1972, Thomas became the first Black woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art and had her first major retrospective exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery.

Reflecting on her early life in the segregated South, Thomas remarked, “One of the things we couldn’t do was go into museums, let alone think of hanging our pictures there. My, times have changed. Just look at me now.”

“Composing Color” will be on view in the museum’s Docent Gallery from Saturday, February 8th through Sunday, May 25, 2025. The Gallery is located at 500 University Avenue in Rochester, NY.

The exhibit is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The Memorial Art Gallery showcases art from antiquity to the present day, including the outdoor public Centennial Sculpture Park.

In addition to its permanent collection, the Memorial Art Gallery offers a year-round schedule of special exhibitions, lectures, concerts, tours, after-hours social events, and family activities. Hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 11 am until 5 pm, and until 9 pm on Thursdays; closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

Admission is $20 for senior citizens, $18 for college students with ID and children 6–18, $9. The Gallery is free to members, University of Rochester faculty, staff, students, and children five and under. Half-price general admission on Thursdays from 5–9 pm. Discounted admission tickets are available when purchasing online.

To learn more visit their website.

Illustrations, from above: Alma Thomas’s “The Eclipse,” 1970, (Smithsonian American Art Museum); and Thomas in her home, Washington, DC, 1968, with her portrait by Laura Wheeler Waring, “Portrait of a Lady,” 1947  (Smithsonian American Art Museum; Photo by Ida Jervis, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution).