On Monday, Washington, DC, 20th-century painter Alma Thomas lived and created her famous abstraction, and was renamed “Alma Thomas Way” on Monday.
The new “Alma Thomas Way” street sign can be found on the corners of 15th and Church Streets and on the 15th and Q streets at either end of the block.
For more than seventy years, the artist has maintained a studio in the kitchen of the Red Brick House on 1530 Northwest Street, a property her parents bought in 1907 when she was 16 years old. The artist’s sister, J. Maurice Thomas, lists the property in the National Historic List.
Thomas (1891–1978) pursued a pioneering career in art. In 1924, she became the first student to receive an advanced arts degree at Howard University. Later, in 1943, she was appointed founding vice president of Barnett-Aden Gallery, one of the country’s first black-owned art galleries. Thomas is also an educator who taught elementary high school for 35 years.
However, her greatest contribution to art history is the abstraction of bright colors and patterns she has shown throughout her career. She became the first black woman to be held at the Whitney American Art Museum in New York in 1972, and later won a place in the White House permanent art collection.
DC Council member Christina Henderson, who introduced the street renaming bill, said: “When we do these street renaming projects, it’s in honor of individuals, but also in an effort to introduce local heroes to the next generation.” Culture Type In the interview.
The bill was originally introduced by Henderson on May 24, 2024, and was subsequently approved by all 11 members of the host board of directors; it was signed into law by Mayor Muriel Bowser on October 24.
The renamed street was a ceremony held by about 30 attendees, including Charles Thomas Lewis, the artist’s eldest nephew, and the founder of the Alma Thomas group, the Friends of Susan Talley.
This is not the first time Thomas has been respected by her hometown in recent years, and Mayor Bowser’s “Anniversary of Alma W. Thomas” was announced on September 12 to mark the artist’s 130th birthday in 2021.
The Alma Thomas Way renamed marks a victory after Republican lawmakers recently demolished the city’s Black Lives Matter Plaza earlier this year.
