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Alma Thomas American, 1891 - 1978 Red Rose Cantata, 1973 oil on canvas, 175.3 x 127 cm (69 x 50 in.) unframed: 128.9 x 177.2 x 3.8 cm (50 3/4 x 69 3/4 x 1 1/2 in.) Gift of Vincent Melzac 1976.6.1 |
Object 5 of 9
In Red Rose Cantata, Alma Thomas set up a lyrical repetition of color and shape through a series of vertical splashes of red punctuated by white intervals. The rhythmic arrangement of brushstrokes suggests musical intervals, and Thomas confirms that in the title. A cantata is a musical composition for one or more voices sung to an instrumental accompaniment. The dynamic harmony and excitement of both nature and music are combined in this piece. Born in Columbus, Georgia, Thomas was the eldest of four daughters. When she was fifteen, her family moved to Washington, D.C. In 1925 she began a thirty-five-year career teaching art at Shaw Junior High in Washington. So great was Thomas' sense of professional dedication that she devoted most of her energy to her students; her painting career was effectively put on hold until the 1960s. In the exhibitions of those years, Thomas drew upon all her sensory, childhood memories of rich vegetation, her own garden, the formal plantings of the capital city, and the musical sounds of nature to develop a painting style that gained her mainstream attention.
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